Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Friday said that the only things she had received from Darshan Hiranandani, the CEO of the Hiranandani Group, as gifts were “one scarf, some lipsticks, and other makeup items including eye shadow” but she admitted to letting him use her Lok Sabha login credentials to post questions that she claimed were hers. She denied allegations of taking bribes from Hiranandani and demanded that she be given the chance to cross-examine him, in an interview to India Today.
Her remarks come amid allegations that she received gifts from Mr Hiranandani in exchange for asking questions in Parliament. The Ethics committee of the parliament has summoned her to present her defence on October 31 but Moitra has requested more time due to “pre-committed programmes” in her constituency Krishnanagar. Most members of the Ethics committee have said the charges against Ms Moitra are serious in nature and amount to a breach of parliamentary privilege. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and Delhi-based lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai have already recorded their statements and presented evidence against the Trinamool MP.
Moitra on Friday also lashed out against Dehadrai, citing that he did not deserve the national importance he was getting. She also said his complaint against her was motivated by the acrimonious custody battle that both were fighting over their pet dog Henry.
Moitra defended sharing login credentials with Hiranandani saying she has done that with others too “as she worked from a remote constituency.” “But there is always an OTP and the team would always post my questions,” she said, claiming that the NIC that operates government and parliamentary websites had no rules against this.