Mahua Moitra is being cross-examined nby parliament ethics committee
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra today told the parliamentary ethics committee that a "sour personal relationship" motivated the filing of the complaint over alleged cash-for-query against her, people familiar with the matter said.
The committee recorded her statement today and will cross-examine her this evening.
Ms Moitra has called Supreme Court lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai, who filed the complaint with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), her "jilted ex".
A large part of her deposition before the committee was about her relationship with Mr Dehadrai as she appeared to blame him for leaks and the allegations, news agency PTI reported.
Ms Moitra found support from some opposition MPs, including N Uttam Kumar Reddy of the Congress and Danish Ali of the Bahujan Samaj Party while a few BJP members, including VD Sharma, wanted her to respond to the substantive part of the allegations and not make it all about personal relationship going bad, PTI reported.
Though Ms Moitra has refuted the cash-for-query allegations, she admitted to giving her parliamentary login ID to businessman Darshan Hiranandani.
Opposition MPs in the ethics committee supported her during the proceedings today, people familiar with the matter said. They pointed out the login ID was used only for posting questions and there was no national security issue in this, sources said.
Mahua Moitra has given her statement to the parliamentary ethics committee
The Opposition MPs demanded to know whether every single MP posts questions on their own without taking any help.
The ethics committee summoned her on the basis of reports received from three ministries along with documents and evidences.
The BJP had raised national security concerns over the sharing of her official login credentials.
After the Supreme Court lawyer who Ms Moitra called her "jilted ex" filed the complaint with the CBI, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had led the call to investigate the allegation that Ms Moitra gave her parliament login ID to Mr Hiranandani to target the Adani Group and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The ethics committee hearing has been buttressed by the explosive affidavit of Mr Hiranandani, who while remaining silent on the cash-for-query issue, has admitted to posting questions on Ms Moitra's parliamentary login. If proved, this would comprise breach of parliamentary privilege and enough to get her expelled from the house.
His gifts to Ms Moitra, he wrote in the affidavit, was by way of meeting the demands of the Trinamool MP, who wanted to politically target PM Modi through the Adani Group.
NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.
(Disclaimer: New Delhi Television is a subsidiary of AMG Media Networks Limited, an Adani Group Company.)