On Mahua Moitra’s walkout, BJP MP says ethics panel chief called ‘Bihari goon…’

Following Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra’s ‘vastraharan’ claim during her cash-for-query hearing before the Ethics Commitee of Lok Sabha on Thursday, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said the panel’s chairman Vinod Sonkar was “abused”.

Dubey claimed that Sonkar faced abusive language in the committee and even lambasted opposition MPs for extending their support to Moitra. “The chairman of the ethics committee, Vinod Sonkar, who hails from a scheduled caste, faced abusive language in the committee, was called a scoundrel in Parliament, called derogatory names such as Bihari goon and a Jharkhandi dog,” the BJP MP’s X post, roughly translated from Hindi, read.

He further wrote that if being a woman is proof of Moitra, a Member of Parliament, to “sell national security for a few corrupt pennies”, then opposition MPs, who support her, should receive salutations. “They (opposition MPs) could have at least played the victim card properly,” Dubey’s X post read.

Moitra appeared before the ethics panel, headed by Sonkar and other opposition and BJP MPs, on Thursday for the cash-for-query hearing. However, she along with some opposition MPs walked out of the session, alleging the panel asked the TMC MP “unethical questions”.

In an exclusive interview with India Today TV later, Moitra claimed that Sonkar asked her “detailed and extremely personal questions” about her private life, which amounted to “proverbial vastraharan (disrobing)”.

Meanwhile, Sonkar accused the TMC MP of using “unparliamentary language”. “Instead of giving answers, she (Mahua Moitra) got angry and used unparliamentary language for the Chairperson, and Committee members. Danish Ali, Girdhari Yadav and other Opposition MPs tried to accuse the committee and walked out…The committee will sit and decide further action…,” Sonkar said.

Moitra also questioned why businessman Darshan Hiranandani, who Moitra called the “bribe giver”, was absent from the hearing.

The meeting was convened on the basis of Dubey’s allegations that Moitra accepted bribes from Hiranandani to ask questions about Adani Group on his behalf in Parliament, in a bid to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP MP’s allegations were based on a letter by Supreme Court lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai – said to be Moitra’s estranged partner.

Initially, a spokesperson of Hiranandani Group had dismissed the claims, but Hiranandani himself later submitted a ‘sworn affidavit’ to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, alleging Moitra shared with him her Parliament login details.