Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], November 26 (ANI): Reacting to the CBI inquiry against Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra in the ‘cash for query‘ case, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Priyanka Tibrewal said on Saturday that this was bound to happen as Moitra had accepted that she shared her credentials with Nandani. “We could all see this coming because Mahua Mitra herself has accepted that she shared her credentials with Hiranandani. But now, from the reports, we are coming to know that it was not just Hiranandani who logged into it from Dubai but there were other places it was logged in from,” said Tibrewal.
“So then there is something more than what meets the eye and we have to find out who the people are who are using these credentials because there is a lot of data that is available online and that is not meant for everyone to see,” she added. Tibrewal further termed this a security concern issue, due to which she believes that an investigation should take place where the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI will try to find out how much cash was taken in lieu of what.
“If found guilty, she should be penalised and punished because representatives, who are people’s representatives, should know what the things are that they need to do and what the don’ts are. So these do’s and don’ts should be clear to these representatives,” she said.
Earlier in the week, the CBI initiated an investigation against TMC MP Mahua Moitra to look into ‘quid pro quo’ allegations of raising questions in Parliament. In this regard, a senior CBI official said that no Preliminary Enquiry (PE) has been registered; however, an investigation has been initiated as the matter was referred by the anti-corruption body Lokpal. “We are enquiring into the matter that was sent to us by Lokpal. We have yet to gather more details into the matter,” the CBI official told ANI.
On being asked about the BJP targeting Mahua Moitra in Bengal, Tibrewal said, “This is no battle that is going on in Bengal. This is a national battle and now a national issue because Mahua Mitra has not shared anything in regard to Bengal with others but she has shared something that is of national importance, too, in lieu of money and other things that she has taken from people.”
“It is TMC’s habit to cry foul every time. Every time there’s a CBI investigation or an ED investigation, they cry foul because they’re on the other side. So now they have to prove, they have to give clarifications and prove that they are not guilty. So the onus is on them to prove the same,” she added.
Mahua Moitra is facing the heat of the “cash-for-query” allegations against her. The Lok Sabha Ethics Committee has recently recommended her expulsion from the Lower House. Lok Sabha Ethics Committee, which investigated the cash-for-query allegations, adopted the report against Moitra with a 6:4 majority, recommending the expulsion of the TMC member.
Moitra had appeared before the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee on November 2 over the cash-for-query allegations against her. Along with opposition members of the panel, she “walked out” of the meeting on Thursday. Opposition members raised questions over the line of questioning and alleged that “personal questions” were posed to the Trinamool Congress MP.
Earlier, Nishikant Dubey had approached Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla against Moitra, accusing her of asking questions in Lok Sabha to target the Adani Group at the behest of businessman Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for gifts. (ANI)
