LS Speaker refers complaint against TMC MP Mahua Moitra to ethics panel

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has referred BJP MP Nishikant Dubey's "bribe-for-query" complaint against Trinamool Congress member Mahua Moitra to the Ethics Committee of the lower House.

Dubey has accused Moitra of taking "bribes" from a businessman to ask questions in Parliament and urged Birla to constitute an "inquiry committee" to look into the charges against her.

Moitra has hit back, saying she "welcomes any move against her after the Lok Sabha Speaker is finished dealing with pending charges against him (Dubey)".

The Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha is chaired by BJP member Vinod Kumar Sonkar.

On Sunday, Dubey wrote to Birla under the subject "Re-emergence of nasty 'Cash for Query' in Parliament, Direct involvement of Smt. Mahua Moitra, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) for serious 'Breach of Privilege', 'Contempt of the House' and a 'Criminal Offence' under Section 120-A of IPC".

Citing a letter he has received from an advocate, Dubey said the lawyer has shared "irrefutable" evidence of bribes exchanged between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and a businessman.

In his letter to the speaker, Dubey said 50 of 61 questions she asked in Lok Sabha till recently were focused on the Adani Group, the business conglomerate which the TMC MP has often accused of malpractices, more so after it was at the receiving end of a critical report of short-selling from Hindenburg.