KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress on Sunday said since its MP Mahua Moitra has already clarified her stand on the allegations of bribe for questions raised, the party would now await the probe by the parliamentary ethics committee as the matter has to do with "her rights and privileges".
Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien told PTI Video that while Moitra on advise from her party had clarified her position regarding the allegations levelled against her, the party leadership would wait for the report by the Parliamentary panel before taking an "appropriate decision".
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai had alleged that Moitra accepted favours from Darshan Hiranandani, the CEO of real estate-to-energy group Hiranandani, in exchange for raising questions in Parliament.
In response, Moitra filed a defamation suit against them before the Delhi High Court.
Dubey's complaint has been referred to Parliament's Ethics Committee by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
"The member concerned has been advised by the party leadership to clarify her position regarding the allegations levelled against her. She has already done that," O'Brien said.
"However, since the matter has to do with an elected MP, her rights and privileges, let the matter be investigated by the right forum of Parliament, after which the party leadership will take an appropriate decision," he added.
Earlier, the TMC had seemingly distanced itself from the controversy over the allegation against the Lok Sabha MP.
TMC's West Bengal general secretary and spokesperson Kunal Ghosh had on Saturday said the party had nothing to say on the issue and that the "person around whom this controversy is revolving is best suited to react to this".
Darshan Hiranandani, who allegedly paid Moitra to raise questions in Parliament about Adani Group, recently claimed in a signed affidavit that she targeted Gautam Adani to "malign and embarrass Prime Minister Narendra Modi whose impeccable reputation gave opposition no opportunity to attack him".
Vinod Sonkar, the chairman of the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee, had said he had received the sworn-in affidavit from Hiranandani.
Moitra, however, has raised questions over the credibility of Hiranandani's affidavit, alleging that it was "drafted by the PMO" and he was forced to sign it after being "threatened" with "total shut down" of his family's businesses.
