They started 'vastraharan', now watch 'Mahabharat': Mahua Moitra dares Centre on Ethics panel report

New Delhi: TMC leader and MP Mahua Moitra, facing expulsion threat in the alleged cash-for-query case, reached the Parliament on Friday, and said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has started 'vastraharan' and that the opposition is ready for 'Mahabharat'.

Daring BJP for faceoff in the Parliament, she said, “Maa Durga aa gayi hai, ab dekhenge...Jab naash manushya par chhata hai, pehle vivek mar jaata hai. They have started 'vastraharan' and now you will watch 'Mahabharat ka rann'.”

The report of the Ethics Committee, recommending the expulsion of TMC MP Mahua Moitra over the alleged “cash-for-query” case, will be tabled in the Lok Sabha today. 

Lok Sabha Ethics Committee member Aparajita Sarangi, the Bhubaneswar MP, is expected to table the report. The report was earlier listed in the agenda of the Lower House for December 4 but was not tabled. 

The tabling of the report could lead to stormy scenes in the House.

The development comes after several opposition members insisted on a discussion on the ethics panel's recommendations before a decision is taken on the Trinamool Congress MP.

Earlier on November 9, the Ethics panel headed by Chairman Vinod Kumar Sonkar adopted its report recommending Moitra's expulsion from Lok Sabha over the 'cash-for-query' allegation.

As many as six members of the panel, including Congress MP Preneet Kaur, who had earlier been suspended from the grand old party due to anti-party actions, voted in favour of the report. In contrast, four members of the panel belonging to opposition parties submitted dissent notes.

The Ethics panel is probing BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s allegations that Moitra accepted bribes and favours for asking questions in the Lok Sabha at the behest of businessman Darshan Hiranandani. 

In a letter to the ethics panel, Mahua — who has rejected the allegations — had asked for permission to cross-examine the alleged ‘bribe giver’ Hiranandani and the complainant, Advocate Jai Dehadrai.