Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Thursday slammed the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee, accusing it of operating in an "unethical and immoral" manner during the questioning of party MP Mahua Moitra in connection with the cash-for-query investigation.
The CPI(M) also asserted that the panel cannot act as 'moral police' and ask personal questions, as alleged by Ms Moitra.
Opposition members of the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee, along with Ms Moitra, walked out of a meeting earlier in the day, alleging that the panel's chairperson Vinod Kumar Sonkar had asked personal and unethical questions.
Mr Sonkar continued with the deliberations even after the walkout and later counter-accused the opposition members of behaving unethically and boycotting the meeting to divert attention from the allegations against Moitra.
"The Lok Sabha Ethics committee functioned in the most unethical and immoral way by asking personal and unethical questions to a woman MP. She was asked filthy questions, and the panel seemed to relish the insult meted out to her," senior TMC leader and West Bengal minister Shashi Panja told PTI.
The BJP and the Union government talk about 'Nari Shakti' (women's power), but they are insulting a woman, she said.
“This is their true nature. The BJP is good at protecting leaders and MPs accused of disrespecting MPs from opposition parties while harassing women wrestlers of the country," she added.
Panja was referring to the alleged sexual harassment of lady grapplers by BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
“It's not the mandate of the ethics committee to go into the personal conduct of a member, it's not a moral police," CPI(M) West Bengal secretary Mohd Salim told a press conference here.
Stating that he is not defending Moitra, Salim said that he is against any moral policing or asking personal questions to a member.
"The Ethics Committee or any other committee have to see what is the conduct of the member on the floor of the House, whether the member is exploiting the parliamentary proceedings for pecuniary benefits or personal gains," he said.
The CPI(M) leader alleged that parliamentary democracy is being demolished under the BJP rule at the Centre.
At the Ethics Committee meeting, Moitra pleaded innocence to the 'cash-for-query' allegation levelled against her and told a parliamentary committee that the charge was motivated by the animus of advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai, following the breakdown of her relations with him, according to sources.
Moitra has been accused of posing questions through her parliamentary account at the behest of a businessman, in exchange for bribes and favours from the Dubai-based scion of a well-known business family, an allegation she has vehemently denied.
The West Bengal BJP claimed that the TMC is attempting to divert attention from the real issue.
"The TMC and Mahua Moitra are doing everything to divert attention from the real issue, but such tactics won't yield any results," said BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)