Can appear only after Nov 5, let me cross-examine Hiranandani: Moitra to ethics panel amid cash-for-query allegations

In an affidavit to the Ethics Committee on October 19, Hiranandani claimed that Moitra provided him her Parliament login and password so that he could “post the questions” directly “on her behalf when required”.

Moitra called the letter “a joke” and said, “The draft of this letter was sent by the PMO and he (Hiranandani) was forced to sign it.”

In a three-page affidavit submitted to the committee and released to the press by the Hiranandani Group’s corporate communication team, Hiranandani, who lives in Dubai, said Moitra “thought that the only way to attack Sh. Modi (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) is by attacking Sh. Gautam Adani and his group as both were contemporaries, and they belong to the same state of Gujarat.”

The cash-for-query allegations involving Moitra surfaced earlier this month after BJP MP Nishikant Dubey wrote two letters — one to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, claiming there are allegations that Moitra took bribes to protect the interest of the Hiranandani Group, and the other to IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, urging him to investigate the IP addresses of Moitra’s log-in credentials for Lok Sabha to check if they had been accessed by someone else.

On Thursday, after the Ethics Committee examined Dubey and lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai regarding the complaint against Moitra, Sonkar said the committee decided to write to the Ministry of Information Technology and Ministry of Home Affairs to share with it all communication and conversations between Moitra, Hiranandani and Dehadrai.

In her letter to Sonkar, Moitra said, “It is imperative that I am allowed to exercise my right to cross-examine Shri Hiranandani. I wish to place on record that any enquiry without the oral evidence of Shri Hiranandani will be incomplete, unfair and akin to holding a proverbial ‘kangaroo court’ and that he too will need to be called to depose before the Committee before it prepares its final report.”

In a post on X, she said the committee chairman had announced summons to her “on live TV way before” it was officially emailed to her. She also said all complaints and suo motu affidavits had been released to the media.

“I look forward to deposing immediately after my pre-scheduled constituency programmes end on November 4,” Moitra said in her post.

In her letter, she said, “I represent the state of West Bengal where Durga Puja is the biggest festival. I am already committed to attending numerous pre-scheduled Vijaya Dashami Sammelans/meetings (both government and political) in my constituency from 30th October to 4th November 2023 and cannot be in Delhi on 31st October 2023.”

She requested that the committee call her at any time and date of its choice after November 5.

“I eagerly look forward to physically attending and presenting my defence against the slanderous charges levelled against me at the next date provided by you,” she said.

She pointed out that BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri, who was summoned by the Privileges Committee on October 10 in connection with allegations of breach of privilege in the House, was allowed to appear at a later date “after he requested more time since he had pre-fixed political meetings in Rajasthan”.

Bidhuri triggered a political firestorm last month over communal slurs against BSP MP Danish Ali.