Nishikant Dubey questions Congress leader's defence of Mahua Moitra

New Delhi: BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Friday questioned a Congress leader's defence of TMC's Mahua Moitra in the cash-for-query case, suggesting an outsider having access to the parliamentary portal through a member's account can get sensitive documents.

Dubey was responding to the point of Congress MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy, who is a member of Lok Sabha's Ethics Committee, that it was only after Moitra shared an OTP with anyone using the portal through her log-in that a question to be asked in Parliament on her behalf could have been submitted.

The BJP MP, whose allegation that Moitra took bribes to ask questions in Parliament at businessman Darshan Hiranandani's behest is being probed by the panel, noted that members get access to bills often days before they are presented in Parliament.

He said Moitra is a member of the Standing Committee on IT, a sector in which Hiranandani also has an interest. Classified papers related to the work of the committee on health were also there besides the documents linked to data protection measures, he said, asking if the businessman too did not get access to them.

"This entire matter is suspicious and national interest was compromised for corruption," he linked.

Opposition members of the committee on Thursday stormed out of its meeting along with Moitra as they accused its chairperson Vinod Kumar Sonkar of asking her "indecent personal" questions, a charge he said was motivated to shield the parliamentarian from queries into her alleged "unethical conduct".

Moitra, who pleaded innocence to bribery allegations, termed Sonkar's questions to her "filthy" following the walkout while he defended the queries, saying they were related to businessman Darshan Hiranandani's affidavit in which he admitted to giving her bribes and using her parliamentary login ID to ask questions on her behalf.

She wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla alleging that she was subjected to the "proverbial vastraharan" by the chairperson of the committee.