Mahua Moitra submits her response to CBI questions in 'cash-for-query' case
New Delhi (PTI): TMC leader and former Lok Sabha member Mahua Moitra has sent her response to a questionnaire by the CBI on allegations of corruption in raising questions in the house, officials said Thursday.
The CBI is examining the response after which it will send a report to anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal which had referred the matter to the agency, they said.
The agency is conducting a preliminary inquiry into the allegations against Moitra on the reference from the Lokpal.
The CBI is also understood to have spoken to lawyer Jai Dehadrai and businessman Darshan Hiranandani in connection with its inquiry, they said.
Queries sent by PTI to Moitra remained unanswered and the CBI has also maintained silence on the issue.
BJP Lok Sabha MP Nishikant Dubey had accused Moitra of asking questions in Lok Sabha to target the Adani group and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the behest of businessman Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for gifts.
He had also accused Moitra of compromising national security for monetary gains.
Moitra has denied any wrongdoing and claimed she was being targeted as she had raised questions on the deals of the Adani group.
"Neither has Lok Pal uploaded any referral order on website as per Lokpal Act & nor has CBI put out anything official. "Sources" telling journos as per usual media circus. Hope ?13,000 crore Adani coal scam merits CBI PE before my witchhunt," Moitra had said on X in November.
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Chadha, others wouldn't have left AAP had it followed 'right' path: Anna Hazare
Mumbai (PTI): Social activist Anna Hazare has said Raghav Chadha and six other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha members would not have quit the party had it followed the "right" path.
"Everyone has the right to hold an opinion in a democracy. They (Chadha and others) must have faced some trouble, which is why they left," Hazare told reporters on Friday in Ahilyanagar district of Maharashtra.
AAP Rajya Sabha members Raghav Chadha and Sandeep Pathak addressed a joint press conference in Delhi on Friday, announcing their exit from the Arvind Kejriwal-led party to join the BJP.
Chadha claimed that nearly two-thirds of AAP's Rajya Sabha members had quit the party and would function as a separate faction.
"It is their (AAP leadership’s) fault. Had that party followed the right way, they would not have left," Hazare said.
Hazare reiterated that Chadha and others must have faced difficulties within AAP, and that is why they left. "Had the party gone in the right direction, they would not have quit the party," he added.
"There must be some or the other reason (for their leaving AAP). In a democracy, every person has a view about where to stay and leave," Hazare said.
The Chadha-led exodus marks a significant setback for the Kejriwal-led party since its formation in 2012, which followed the momentum of Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement.
