NEW DELHI: Taking a U-turn from its earlier position, Darshan Hiranandani, the CEO of Hiranandani group, who allegedly paid Moitra to ask questions in Parliament about Adani Group, on Thursday said the TMC leader targeted Gautam Adani to “malign and embarass” Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose “impeccable reputation gave opposition no opportunity to attack him”.
However, the Hiranandani group had earlier denied the ‘cash for query’ allegations when the row broke out last week. In a statement, it said that the allegations lack merit and that they have always been in the business of business and not in the business of politics.
Earlier this week, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and Moitra’s estranged partner and lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai alleged that Moitra took favours from Hiranandani to raise questions in Parliament. Dubey also wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, to constitute a committee to look into the charges against her and to suspend the member from the House till the panel completes its inquiry. Subsequently, Speaker Birla referred the complaint to the Ethics Committee of the lower House, and the matter will be heard on October 26.
In a signed affidavit, which is in possession of this paper, Hiranandani admitted using Moitra’s Parliamentary login to ask questions targeting Adani after state-owned behemoth Indian Oil Corporation booked capacity at the Gujarat-based conglomerate’s Dhamra LNG import facility and not at his firm’s planned facility.
Dubey had written to Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Union Minister of State Rajeev Chandrashekhar demanding a probe to the IP address of all login credentials of Moitra’s Lok Sabha account to check whether she breached national security.
The affidavit said, “Moitra made frequent demands” including “expensive luxury items, providing support on 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.”
Earlier stance
The Hiranandani group had earlier denied the ‘cash for query’ allegations when the row broke out last week. In a statement, the group had said that the allegations lacked merit and that they have always been in the business of business and not in the business of politics.