Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh:

Union Minister Anurag Thakur has targeted TMC MP Mahua Moitra over ‘Cash-for-Query’ saying, “Even if she does not accept her mistakes, then too, the truth cannot be hidden.”

“If the Parliamentary Committee has summoned someone, then they should go and make their point. Even if she does not accept her mistakes, then too, the truth cannot be hidden,” he said.

His statement comes after Mahua Moitra’s response to the summons by the Parliament Ethics Committee.

Ms Moitra has been summoned by Ethics Committee of Parliament on November 2.

However, the TMC MP took to her X account on Friday and said, “I look forward to deposing (before the Ethics Committee of Parliament) immediately after my pre-scheduled constituency programmes end on November 4.”

In her letter to the Ehics Committee the TMC MP asked for permission to cross question Darshan Hiranandani.

Meanwhile Union Minister Anurag Thakur said this is a matter of “national security” and added that “an inquiry and appropriate action should be taken quickly”.

“The country wants to know how the Member of Parliament was sold… This is a matter of concern. It is a matter of national security and corruption… There should be an inquiry and appropriate action should be taken quickly,” he said.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nishikant Dubey on Saturday alleged that attempts are being made to influence the witness amid the ‘Cash-for-Query’ row and urged the Lok Sabha speaker to take action.

“According to the information, Darshan Hiranandani and Dubai Didi (MP Mahua Moitra) are in touch. An attempt is being made to influence the witness @loksabhaspeaker to take action,” Nishikant Dubey said in a post on X.

Further, comparing TMC MP Mahua Moitra with former Congress MP Raja Ram Pal amid the ‘Cash-for-Query ‘row, the BJP MP said that the former was poor while Moitra was “friends with the rich”.

“There is a similarity between Mahua ji and Raja Ram Pal ji, who asked questions about money and was expelled from Parliament during the Congress rule in 2005. Pal ji was fighting against corruption of Reliance, hence he was expelled, Mahua ji Adani. Is this why you are fighting?” the BJP MP said in a post in Hindi on X.

Sharing a link that includes a letter dated back to December 2005, which was written by Raja Ram Pal to the Prime Minister’s Office about the corrupt practices of the then Power Ministry officials, Nishikant Dubey, who initially levelled the cash-for-query allegation against the TMC MP, urged everyone to read the letter to “know the nature of Mahua” “.

“Read Raja Ram Pal ji’s letter and compare that with Mahua’s nature and signature. The BSP Member of Parliament Raja Ram Pal was regularly writing to the Prime Minister….Raja Ram Pal ji speaks Hindi, is poor. She is a thief, Mahua ji speaks English, she is friends with the rich, is she honest?” he added.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)