Mahua Moitra responds to Hiranandani's affidavit in the 'cash for query' controversy with a strong stance
Days after the “cash for query” controversy broke out, Darshan Hiranandani, CEO of the real estate-to-energy group Hiranandani, on Thursday claimed to have used Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra’s Parliament login ID to ask questions targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Adani Group. He is accused of paying TMC MP Mahua Moitra to raise questions in Parliament focusing on the Adani Group.
He stated that the TMC leader targeted Gautam Adani to “malign and embarrass” Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose impeccable reputation left the opposition with “no opportunity to attack him.”
In a signed affidavit, a document that PTI had the opportunity to examine, he confessed to utilizing Moitra’s Parliamentary login to inquire about matters concerning the Adani Group. This occurred following the state-owned Indian Oil Corporation’s decision to reserve capacity at the Adani Group’s Dhamra LNG import facility in Odisha instead of at his own company’s proposed facility.
Here are the big claims that Darshan Hiranandani made in his affidavit
Mahua Moitra wanted to quickly make a name for herself at the national level. She was advised by her friends and advisors that the shortest possible route to fame is by personally attacking PM Modi.
Moitra thought that the only way to attack PM Modi is by attacking Gautam Adani as both were contemporaries, and they belong to the same state of Gujarat.
She drafted a few questions that would have elements to embarrass the government by targeting the Adani group.
She shared with me her email ID as a Member of Parliament, so that I could send her information, and she could raise the questions in the Parliament.
She later provided me her Parliament login and password so that I could post the questions directly.
There were others who were also assisting her in this targeted attack. She had interactions with many Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, on matters relating to the Adani companies.
She also had frequent interactions with international journalists from the Financial Times, the New York Times, the BBC and also with several Indian publications.
She also received unverified details from several sources, including some claiming to be former Adani group employees. Certain information was shared with me, based on which I continued to post questions using her Parliamentary login.
I felt that, through her, I would get support in other States ruled by the Opposition because she bonded extremely well with other leaders of the Opposition like Rahul Gandhi, Shashi Tharoor and Pinaki Mishra.
She made frequent demands of me and kept asking me for various favours. This included gifting her expensive luxury items, providing support on the renovation of her officially allotted bungalow in Delhi, travel expenses, holidays, etc, apart from providing secretarial and logistical help for her travels within India and to different parts of the world.
Many times, I felt that she was taking undue advantage of me and pressurising me to do things I didn’t want to, but I had no choice, because of the aforementioned reasons.
‘Cash for questions’ row
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Sunday wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla demanding the immediate suspension of Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra for allegedly “accepting bribes in exchange for posing questions in Parliament”.
In his letter to the Speaker dated October 15, Dubey alleged that “bribes were exchanged” between Mahua Moitra and a businessman to ask questions in Parliament in exchange for cash and gifts. Dubey also sought immediate action against her, including the formation of an inquiry committee and her immediate suspension from the House.
