On November 2, Mahua Moitra will appear before an ethics panel in a cash-for-query case

 On November 2, Mahua Moitra will appear before an ethics panel in a cash-for-query case

On November 2, Mahua Moitra, the subject of a political uproar after BJP MP Nishikant Dubey's letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla accusing her of accepting payments from businessman Darshan Hiranandani in order to attack the Adani Group, would testify before the panel.

TMC MP Mahua Moitra provided a copy of her letter to the commission on Wednesday, ahead of her hearing before the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee investigating the cash-for-query accusations against her.

On November 2, Moitra, who has been the subject of a political uproar after the accusation in a letter from BJP MP Nishikant Dubey to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla that she accepted payments from businessman Darshan Hiranandani in order to attack the Adani Group, would testify before the panel.

Sharing the October 31 letter on X, Moitra said, "I believe it is important that I release my letter to the Committee before my ability to hear tomorrow, since the Ethics Committee has deemed it appropriate to release my summons to the media."

In the correspondence, Moitra promised to come before the panel on November 2 and to refute the cash-for-query charge made against her. In the correspondence, Moitra promised to come before the panel on November 2 and to refute the cash-for-query charge made against her.

In the letter, she emphasized the need of contacting law enforcement authorities in such circumstances, stating that parliamentary committees lack criminal authority. As a suspected "bribe-giver," Hiranandani filed an affidavit to the committee "without supplying substantial evidence," and Moitra stated her wish to cross-examine him.

In addition, the MP for the Lok Sabha attempted to cross-examine Jai Anant Dehadral, the complainant, claiming she had not produced any documentation to back up her allegations.

"In light of the dedication of the allegations, it is imperative that the suspected 'bribe-giver' Darshan Hiranandani, who submitted a 'suo-moto' affidavit to the Committee alongside scant details and no documentary evidence any way, be called to depose before the House Committee and provide the said evidence in the kind of a documented itemised inventory with quantity, date etc," she continued.

"I wish to place publicly available that in keeping with the principles of the law, I wish to exercise my right to answer questions from Hiranandani," she said. Moitra emphasized that an investigation would be "incomplete and unfair" if it did not provide her the chance to cross-examine.

She drew attention to the lack of a formal Code of Conduct for members and emphasized the importance of impartiality and equity while considering individual cases and steering clear of political baggage within the committee. Concerning the Ethics Committee's alleged "double standards" in issuing a summons, Moitra also voiced her worries.

The BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri possesses a "very serious complaint of hate communication" pending against him against the Privileges and Ethics department, and she said the panel had taken a totally different tack in this matter. She said that while Bidhuri was called to testify orally on October 10, he declined, citing his engagements in Rajasthan as a campaign stop.