NEW DELHI: The controversy over BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s ‘cash for query’ allegation against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra escalated on Tuesday after Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla referred the complaint to the Ethics Committee of the lower House.
The committee is chaired by BJP member Vinod Kumar Sonkar. Dubey wrote to Birla on Sunday, accusing Moitra of taking ‘bribe’ from a businessman to ask questions in Parliament to “protect the interest of the group”. He urged Birla to constitute a committee to look into the charges against her and to suspend the member from the House till the panel completes its inquiry. Moitra has vehemently denied the charges, saying she “welcomes any move against her after the Speaker is finished dealing with pending charges against Dubey for false affidavits”.
In March this year, Moitra had alleged that Dubey’s ‘MBA and PhD degrees were fake and dodgy’ and demanded the termination of his Lok Sabha membership on those grounds. In his letter to the Speaker under the subject “Re-emergence of nasty ‘Cash for Query’ in Parliament, Dubey alleged serious ‘breach of privilege’, ‘contempt of the House’ and a ‘criminal offence’ under section 120-A of IPC” against Moitra.
Dubey also cited a letter he received from an advocate as irrefutable proof of bribes exchanged between Moitra and a businessman. In his letter, Dubey alleged that 50 of 61 questions Moitra raised in Lok Sabha till recently were on Adani Group. The TMC MP has been vocal about seeking an investigation on the report by New York-based short-seller Hindenburg Research, which accused Adani Group of stock manipulation and fraud.
Sharpening his attack on the TMC member, Dubey on Monday wrote a letter to Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Union Minister of State Rajeev Chandrashekhar demanding a probe to the IP address of all login credentials of Mahua Moitra’s Lok Sabha account to check whether she breached national security. “The allegations that have been brought forward in front of the relevant authorities are serious in nature and echo back to the ‘Cash for Query’ incident that came forth almost eighteen years ago,” he said referring to the ‘cash for query’ scam that rocked the country in 2005..
“The alleged sharing of Moitra’s Lok Sabha credentials with an external entity poses a direct threat to national security. Access to the Lok Sabha site might provide sensitive, possibly classified, information. Unauthorised access risks exposure of strategic data that could be exploited to undermine India’s policy decisions or strategic interests,” wrote Dubey.
He further claimed that if the claims are proven to be accurate, this constitutes a serious criminal breach of trust as well as a violation of India’s national security. “It would give unauthorised individuals access to government websites that may contain classified information,” he said.
XMoitra slaps defamation case on Dubey TMC MP Mahua Moitra on Tuesday moved the Delhi High Court seeking restraint on BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, an advocate and several social media platforms and media houses from posting, circulating or publishing any alleged fake and defamatory content against her. In her plea, Moitra sought permanent injunction and damages against Dubey, advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai, social media platform X, search engine Google, YouTube and 15 media houses. She also urged the court to restrain them from making, publishing, circulating per se defamatory, ex facie false and malicious statements against her.
