A Member of Parliament from India, who often strongly disagrees with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his political party (BJP), is involved in a disagreement over claims of bad behavior in the parliament.
Nishikant Dubey, a member of the BJP party, is saying that Mahua Moitra, who is an MP from the TMC party, is taking money to ask questions in parliament.
Mr Dubey is saying that Ms. Moitra asked questions about the Adani Group, which is a big business owned by a wealthy man named Gautam Adani, in return for receiving presents and money from a businessman.
Ms Moitra has said that she didn’t do what she’s accused of and is willing to be investigated. A group of lawmakers who make decisions about what is right and wrong in politics began discussing the situation on Thursday.
Political experts say that the committee cannot punish Ms. Moitra, even if it decides against her, because it doesn’t have the authority to enforce its decisions. The house will need to review the recommendation and decide if they want to approve or refuse it. If Ms Moitra is forced to leave parliament, she can question the decision in court.
In January, the money activities of the Adani Group were looked into after a company called Hindenburg Research accused them of cheating and making false financial records for many years. Hindenburg Research is a company from the US that focuses on making money by betting against certain stocks. The Adani Group said the allegations are not true and called the report mean-spirited.
Since then, Ms Moitra and many lawmakers from the opposition have requested the government to investigate the accusations against the Adani Group. India’s market regulator, called the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), is currently looking into the accusations against the company.
What has occurred up until now.
On 15 October, Mr Dubey sent a letter to the head of the parliamentary group, sharing information he got from a lawyer called Jai Anant Dehadrai.
Mr Dubey said that Mr. Dehadrai, who Ms. Moitra called a bitter ex-partner, had provided undeniable proof of bribes being exchanged between her and businessman Darshan Hiranandani. The intention behind this was to target the Adani Group and Mr.
People think Mr. Adani is friends with Mr. Modi and politicians from the opposing party have accused him of unfairly benefiting from this friendship. Adani and the BJP party deny these allegations.
Mr Dubey said that until recently, 50 out of 61 questions asked by Ms. Moitra in parliament were about the Adani Group. He also accused her of taking bribes totaling 20 million rupees ($240,542; £197,700) from Mr. Hiranandani.
- Advertisement –
Ms Moitra has said that the accusations are not true and she has taken legal action against Mr Dubey, Mr Dehadrai, and various news organizations for damaging her reputation.
The Hiranandani Group denied the allegations. On 20 October, it was said that Mr. Hiranandani gave a written statement to the parliament’s ethics committee. In the statement, he changed his position and said that Ms. Moitra had purposely focused on Mr. Adani and his businesses to gain fame.
He also said that Ms Moitra shared her parliamentary login information with him so he could ask questions for her when needed.
News agencies quickly reported on the supposed affidavit, but Ms. Moitra expressed doubts about its authenticity in a press release on X.
The paper that the document is written on is not official or certified. Why would a highly respected and educated businessman from India agree to sign a letter like this on plain white paper, unless someone forced him to do it by holding a gun to his head.
Darshan Hiranandani has not been asked to come for questioning by the CBI, the Ethics Committee, or any other investigative agency in India so far. Who did he give this written statement to, she added.
The day after Mr. Dubey made his claims, a representative for the Adani Group said that Mr. Dehadrai’s complaint shows that there has been a plan since 2018 to damage the reputation and interests of the Adani Group and its Chairman Gautam Adani.
The TMC has not made a clear decision on the matter. Derek O’Brien, a lawmaker from the party, said that the leaders of TMC will wait for the report from the ethics panel before making a suitable choice.
The disagreement has become a big news story because Ms Moitra is seen as an important politician who has connected with both city and countryside voters in West Bengal. Her supporters say that the BJP is creating this controversy as a strategy to harm Mr. Moitra’s popularity with voters before the general elections in 2024.
From someone who works with money to someone who makes decisions in the government
Before joining the TMC in 2010, Ms. Moitra worked as a banker. At the beginning of her political career, she mainly focused on the state level and worked closely with ordinary voters.
In the 2019 parliamentary election, she ran for office in Krishnanagar, West Bengal. She had to show that she could represent the many voters in poverty. Poverty line is a way to measure how well someone or their family is living.
Ms Moitra won the elections with a lot more votes than the other candidates, almost 60,000 more votes.
Ms Moitra, in her first speech in parliament, said that India had been seeing “indications of fascism” under the BJP government. The speech became very popular on social media and people had different opinions about it. Some people praised her for being honest, but others criticized her for scaring people.
Ms Moitra has now become a well-known person in the TMC, a political party that already has Mamata Banerjee, a powerful female leader in charge.
Ms Banerjee, a strong speaker, is part of a group that wants to challenge Mr Modi’s BJP in the upcoming election. In 2021, she openly criticized Ms Moitra for causing conflicts within their party. People who study politics are paying attention to what Ms. Banerjee will say or do in response to the ongoing problem.