Ethics Panel to Present Report on Mahua Moitra in LS on Friday; BJP, Congress Issue Whip to MPs – News18

The parliamentary ethics committee is likely to present its report in the Lok Sabha on Friday recommending the expulsion of Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra in the cash-for-query allegations.

If the report is presented, the committee will suggest parliament to expel Moitra from parliament. However, Moitra can only be expelled if the House votes in favour of the panel’s recommendation. The report was earlier listed in the agenda of the lower house for December 4 but was not tabled.

The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has issued a whip to all its Lok Sabha MPs to be present in the Parliament tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the opposition Congress has also issued three-line whip to all its MPs in Lok Sabha to be present on Friday.

“Be present positively in Lok Sabha from 11:00 am, onwards till the adjournment of the House tomorrow, i.e. Friday, December 8, 2023, and support the Party stand, as some important issues will be taken up in the House,” Congress chief whip Kodikunnil Suresh said.

Opposition MPs have insisted that there should be a discussion on the recommendations before a decision is taken on Moitra. The Congress earlier this week said it will oppose any motion that the government may bring in Parliament to suspend or expel TMC’s Mahua Moitra.

The committee headed by Vinod Kumar Sonkar, at a meeting on November 9, adopted its report recommending Moitra’s expulsion from Lok Sabha over the “cash-for-query” allegation.

Six members of the panel, including Congress MP Preneet Kaur who had earlier been suspended from the party, voted in favour of the report. Four members of the panel belonging to opposition parties submitted dissent notes.

The opposition members termed the report a “fixed match” and said the complaint filed by BJP Lok Sabha member Nishikant Dubey, which the panel reviewed, was not supported by a “shred of evidence”.

Mohua Moitra and the opposition MPs had earlier walked out of the ethics committee meeting on November 2 after questioning the way the meeting was conducted. The committee had shot back saying she did not cooperate and left in order to avoid answering more questions.