 "'Filthy questions': Mahua Moitra walks out of meet; panel chief counters")
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Vinod Sonkar, the chairperson of the Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha, on Thursday said that Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra used "unparliamentary" words for him and the panel, before storming out of its meeting, which was called to record her oral evidence in the cash-for-query scandal.
Sonkar's remark comes minutes after Opposition MPs, including Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)'s Danish Ali, walked out of the panel's meeting with Moitra, claiming it asked "filthy questions" from her.
"The Committee's motive was to probe into the allegations of unethical conduct by Mahua Moitra. Instead of cooperating, Mahua Moitra, in a fit of anger, used bad words against the panel and its chairperson. The Opposition MPs, including Danish Ali, Girdhari Yadav etc, unethically and in great anger, levelled some allegations against the Committee... they walked out of the panel's meeting to escape answering questions on Darshan Hiranandani's allegations," Sonkar said.
After the meeting, BJP MP and the panel's member, Aparajita Sarangi, condemned Moitra's alleged bad behaviour.
"The proceedings of the Parliamentary Standing Committee are confidential by nature. So the very thing that she [TMC MP Mahua Moitra] did was wrong. They all came out and they all said things about the Committee, about the goings on within the Committee, it was wrong. She should not have done that. These things are very confidential. The conduct of Mahua Moitra was condemnable. She used unparliamentary words for our chairman and for all the members of the Committee. So, the chairperson of the Committee was asking questions regarding the contents of the affidavit by Hiranandani and she did not want to answer them. And then they created a ruckus," Sarangi was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
Opposition members of the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee walked out of the meeting with Mahua Moitra, accusing the panel's chairperson of asking Mahua Moitra "unethical questions" of personal nature.
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"We found the ethics committee chairperson's questions to Moitra undignified and unethical," Congress MP and panel member N Uttam Kumar Reddy said.
"It seems that he [Parliament Ethics Committee chairman] is acting at the behest of someone else. It is very, very bad. For two days we have been asking him some things...They are asking her [Mahua Moitra] where are you travelling? Where are you meeting? Can you give us your phone records?... There is no evidence of any cash transfer," he added.
"It seems that he [Parliament Ethics Committee chairman] is acting at the behest of someone else. It is very, very bad. For two days we have been asking him some things...They are asking her [Mahua Moitra] where are you travelling? Where are you meeting? Can you give us your phone records?... There is no evidence of any cash transfer," he added.
Janata Dal (United) MP Giridhari Yadav said," They asked personal questions to the woman [TMC MP Mahua Moitra]. They do not have the right to ask personal questions, so we walked out."
(With agency input)