Mahua Moitra's case more serious than 'cash-for-query scam' of 2005: Nishikant Dubey

New Delhi: BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, whose complaint against TMC MP Mohua Moitra is being probed by the Parliamentary Ethics Committee, quoted “media reports” to post on X alleging that her credentials were used 47 times to login from Dubai.

“According to the news reports about Mahua Moitra, questions were asked 47 times in the Lok Sabha through her email id and MP portal from Darshan Hiranandani’s place in Dubai. If this news is true then all the MPs of the country should stand against Mahua's corruption,” Dubey posted on X.

“Hiranandani asked questions in the Lok Sabha for his own benefit. Are we MPs elected to serve the selfish interests of capitalists,” Dubey’s post further read.

At Gwalior, where he spoke to reporters, Dubey said that Moitra’s case is more serious that the ‘cash-for-questions’ scam of 2005 where questions were sold for Rs 10,000.

“MPs have been suspended in the Parliament for asking questions for ₹10,000. This (Moitra's case) is a much more serious matter than that,” he told reporters.

On Tuesday, Moitra wrote to the Ethics Committee seeking the right to cross examine both Jai Dehaderai as well as Hiranandani, and sought to know if the Ethics Committee is the right forum to take up a criminal case. She is set to appear in front of the committee on Thursday.

In a letter to the Ethics Committee chairperson Vinod Sonkar, Moitra said that she was not allowed to appear in front of the committee at a later date despite requesting, even when fellow BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri, who was to appear in front of the committee on a hate speech complaint in the floor of Lok Sabha, was allowed to do so.

“I wish to place on record that these double-standards reek of political motives and do little to enhance the credibility of the Privileges & Ethics Branch,” she wrote.