On Thursday, Hiranandani – who accused the MP of making frequent demands and seeking favours including expensive gifts, luxury goods, support in renovating her official residence, holidays and providing secretarial and logistical help – endorsed the allegations made against her by advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai.
If proven, charge can lead to Moitra disqualification
Dubai-based Hiranandani, a business rival of Adani group, has sent a sworn affidavit to Lok Sabha ethics committee that’s probing the charge which, if proven, can lead to Moitra’s disqualification. The businessman has also sent letters to BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who had lodged a complaint against Moitra with Speaker Om Birla based on the charge made by Dehadrai to the CBI, to the advocate and also to Delhi high court.
The HC is scheduled to take up Moitra’s defamation complaint against Dehadrai, who used to be a close friend of the MP before a bitter fallout, Dubey, social media platforms and 15 media entities on Friday. Sources close to the Hiranandani group confirmed the authenticity of the document which gives the sense that he started helping Moitra because it would also serve his business interests.
The businessman, with interests in real estate, data centres and energy, had first met Moitra at the Bengal Global Business Summit in 2017 and subsequently hosted the MP and her friends several times. Moitra got in touch with Hiranandani while raising a question in Parliament on the Adani group.
Dhamra LNG, an entity linked to Adanis, was about to bag a deal with state-run IndianOil, and not with Hiranandani’s firm.
“Based on this information, Moitra drafted a few questions that would have elements to embarrass the government by targeting the Adani group; questions that she could raise in Parliament. She shared with me her email ID as MP, so that I could send her information, and she could raise the questions in Parliament. I went along with her proposal,” businessman Hiranandani said, adding that the lawmaker was delighted at the response she received from the opposition and a section of the media to her question.
Subsequently, Moitra – whom Hiranandani described as “dominating” and “assertive” – asked him to “keep supporting her in her attacks on the Adani group” and shared her login and password. He also accused partners of a leading corporate law firm and a financial journalist of feeding her with “unverified information” against Adani group.
Hiranandani alleged that in her bid to earn fame, the “highly ambitious politician” tried to tarnish Modi’s image through allegations against industrialist Gautam Adani as both belonged to Gujarat and the PM had an “impeccable reputation”. He said Moitra had interactions with several Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, on issues related to the Adanis, as well as with journalists from Financial Times, New York Times, BBC and several Indian publications.
Explaining the rationale for supporting Moitra, he said, “I also 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, with whom also she shared close relations.”
He accused Moitra of making frequent demands which he had to fulfil in order to remain in close proximity with her and get her support. “Many a time, I felt that she was taking undue advantage of me and pressuring me to do things I didn’t want to, but I had no choice,” he said.