Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and MP Mahua Moitra on Friday stated that she will not appear before the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee on October 31 in response to the cash-for-query allegations made by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey. Instead, she will appear after November 5.
Dubey had previously informed the Ethics Committee that it was a straightforward case, and he called for Moitra’s disqualification. Moitra revealed that the committee’s chairman had publicly announced her summons on October 31 before officially emailing her about it at 19:20 hrs. She expressed her intention to testify once her scheduled constituency programs in West Bengal’s Nadia district conclude on November 4.
Moitra shared the letter she sent to the committee’s chairperson, explaining her unavailability until November 4 and requesting a date and time after November 5.
On Thursday, Dubey and advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai provided “oral evidence” to the committee against the TMC MP. Committee chairperson Vinod Kumar Sonkar stated that the committee would also seek assistance from the ministries of home affairs and IT in investigating the allegations.