Ethics panel report on Mahua Moitra to be tabled in Lok Sabha on Friday

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday issued a whip to all its Lok Sabha members to be present in the House on Friday anticipating a division of votes on the Ethics Committee report on the alleged "Cash-for-query" scam involving Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra.

The Ethics panel report is likely to be tabled on Friday and there may be an uproar while presenting the Ethics Committee report, the top sources in BJP told NewsDrum. 

There may be a need for voting in the House while accepting the report or taking action against her. In view of this, BJP has issued a three-line whip to all its Lok Sabha MPs and directed them to remain present in the House throughout the day during the proceedings of the House on Friday, NewsDrum was told.

The Congress on Monday said it will oppose any motion that the government may bring in Parliament to suspend or expel TMC's Mahua Moitra.

The issue came up for discussion during a meeting of like-minded parties of the INDIA opposition bloc on Monday morning and everyone present decided to oppose the motion and demanded a discussion on the functioning of the ethics committee and its report.

The Congress has come out strongly behind Moitra whose expulsion from the House has been recommended by the ethics committee.

However, Opposition MPs expressed surprise as the report of the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee recommending the expulsion of Moitra in a "cash-for-query" case was not tabled in the House though it was listed on Monday's agenda.

The report, scheduled for presentation after the Question Hour, remained untabled till around 1 pm on Monday when the House adjourned for lunch.

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had forwarded a complaint against the Trinamool Congress member by lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, accusing her of taking bribes for asking questions in the House at the behest of businessman Darshan Hiranandani to target the Adani Group and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Lok Sabha Ethics Committee, chaired by BJP MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar, submitted its report earlier this month, recommending Moitra's expulsion for accepting "illegal gratifications" to raise questions in Parliament on behalf of the businessman.

Moitra dismissed the decision as a "prefixed match by a kangaroo court" and deemed it a "death of parliamentary democracy."