Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has come out in support of party MP Mahua Moitra, accused of taking money from a prominent businessman for asking questions in Parliament. Calling the Krishnanagar MP a “victim of politics”, Mr Banerjee has said the firebrand leader is “competent enough to fight her own battles”.

Accusing the BJP of targeting Trinamool leaders, Mr Banerjee said, “I feel this step by the central government and what I read of the ehtics committee report, they have said an investigation should happen against her. If you do not have anything against Mahua (Moitra) and it is the subject of investigation, then why has an expulsion been recommended. I feel Mahua is competent enought to fight her battles on her own. They are victimising me for four years too, it is their standard practice,” he said,.

These are the first remarks by Mr Banerjee, considered the Number 2 in Trinamool at this point, in connection with the Mahua Moitra case. His remarks are significant against the backdrop of Trinamool’s caution in commenting on the allegations against Ms Moitra.

The Mamata Banerjee-led party, which has repeatedly accused the ruling BJP of misusing central agencies and other institutions to target political rivals, has been conscipicuosly silent in its remarks in this matter and has largely left Ms Moitra to fight her case as several issues from her personal life have dominated the discussions.

Mamata Banerjee, who has addressed the media several times over the past month, has not spoken at all about the allegations against Ms Moitra. Earlier, party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh told the media that the party “has nothing to say on this issue”. “We think the person around whom this controversy is revolving is best suited to react to this,” he said.

Derek O’Brien, Trinamool’s leader in Rajya Sabha, said last month that the Trinamool Congress leadership will take an appropriate decision in the matter after the Parliamentary panel probing the matter completes its investigation

“The member concerned has been advised by the party leadership to clarify her position regarding the allegations levelled against her. She has already done that. However, since the matter has to do with an elected MP, her rights and privileges, let the matter be investigated by the right forum of Parliament, after which the party leadership will take an appropriate decision,” he said.

Ms Moitra has been accused of receiving cash and expensive gifts from businessman Darshan Hiranandani for asking questions in parliament.

NDTV has accessed the report by the Parliamentary ethics committee examining the matter. Calling Ms Moitra’s actions “highly objectionable, unethical, heinous and criminal”, the panel has said she should not be allowed to continue as an MP and her Lok Sabha membership should be terminated.

“The money trail of cash transaction between Smt Mahua Moitra and Shri Darshan Hiranandani as a part of a ‘quid pro quo’ should be investigated by the government of India in a legal, institutional and time-bound manner,” the report read.

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who complained against Ms Moitra to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, yesterday said anti-corruption body Lokpal has ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the corruption allegations against the Trinamool MP.

“On basis of my complaint, Lokpal has ordered a CBI probe into the Mahua Moitra’s corruption that compromises national security,” he posted on X.

In his complaint, the BJP MP alleged that Ms Moitra accepted cash from businessman Darshan Hiranandani to ask questions in parliament on his behalf to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi and business rival Adani Group. He also claimed that Ms Moitra, by sharing her parliamentary login with the businessman, had compromised national security.

Ms Moitra has claimed that there is no regulation regaring the sharing of login and password. Earlier, she had walked out of a meeting with the ethics panel, saying she was asked “filthy questions”. Opposition MPs on the panel had also questioned how the meeting was conducted and staged a walkout.

BJP MPs on the panel, including its chairman Vinod Sonkar, accused Ms Moitra of not cooperating in the probe and walking out to avoid being questioned.

Days after Mexico Congress stunned the world with their display of two alleged Peruvian ‘alien corpses’, a second Congressional hearing was held on Tuesday. Researchers testified before Mexico’s Congress and declared that the previously displayed three-fingered Peruvian mummies were authentic. However, they did not confirm that the remains were aliens, as per Reuters.

In September, the ”non-human” alien corpses, claimed to be the 1,000-year-old fossilised remains of extraterrestrial individuals, were presented in windowed boxes, by journalist and ufologist Jaime Maussan.

Findings about the Peruvian mummies

On Tuesday, Mr. Maussan returned to emphasise the genuine nature of the bodies. During the second Congress session, Mr. Maussan was backed by a group of medical experts who said that the mummies were once-living organisms. The alien enthusiast and his group of researchers showed photographs and X-rays of what he said was a ”non-human being.” Mr Maussan said the bodies belonged to a ”new species,” as they lacked lungs and ribs.Anthropologist Roger Zuniga of San Luis Gonzaga National University in Ica, Peru, supported the findings, and said “They’re real”. ”There was absolutely no human intervention in the physical and biological formation of these beings,” he told Reuters.Zuniga presented a letter signed by 11 researchers from the university declaring the same. The letter made clear, however, they were not implying the bodies were “extraterrestrial”.

Congressman Sergio Gutierrez, from President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s ruling Morena party, called for a reform to Mexico’s law to make all information about UFOs public.

A televised debate Wednesday between American Republican presidential hopefuls spiraled into the ‘Battle of the Heels, Part 2’ after businessman and political novice Vivek Ramaswamy lobbed a personal insult at ex-South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, the only female candidate on stage.

The two (plus Florida Governor RonDeSantis and two others) were involved in a heated exchange on US foreign policy – that news agency AFP slyly called a “first in Republican debates” – when the Indian-origin Vivek Ramaswamy branded Nikki Haley a “Dick Cheney in three-inch heels“.

Ms Haley – who also exchanged ‘heel’ swipes with Mr DeSantis last week, amid talk he wears lifts to seem taller – snapped, “(I wear) five-inch heels… and I don’t wear them unless you can run in them.”

An apparently unapologetic Mr Ramaswamy also posted a video of his comment on X.

The choice should be clear: We can elect a president who will keep us out of World War III or we can elect a Dick Cheney in 3-inch heels. Because there are two of them on stage with me tonight. @RonDeSantis @NikkiHaley pic.twitter.com/i21U4tErmU

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) November 9, 2023

The incendiary back-and-forth came in the first 20 minutes of the debate and as Mr Ramaswamy held forth on Israel’s war on the Palestinian people and the Hamas’ terror attack last month; on this subject all Republican challengers appear united and Ms Haley said she would “finish” Hamas.

“… Israel has the right and the responsibility to defend itself. I would tell him (Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) to smoke those terrorists on his southern border…” Mr Ramaswamy thundered, “(if elected President) I will smoke the terrorists on our southern border.”

READ | “Smoke Those Terrorists”: Vivek Ramaswamy’s Message To Israel Amid War

“(Do the voters want a) leader from a different generation – who is going to put this country first or do you want Dick Cheney in three-inch heels. We’ve got two of them on stage tonight,” he said.

“They’re not a fashion statement, they’re for ammunition,” Ms Haley hit back.

The reference to former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney was part of criticism of his rivals’ foreign policy stance; this includes Ms Haley backing funding for Ukraine in its war against Russia.

The attack on Nikki Haley was also a reference to her leaving public office to accept a position on the board of American aerospace giants Boeing; she stepped down in March 2020, less than a year later, in opposition to federal support for the company during the global coronavirus crisis.

Mr Ramaswamy’s crass jab was followed by an even tenser (and still more personal) exchange with Ms Haley, in which he called her a hypocrite in their scrap over TikTok – a Chinese video-sharing platform.

READ | “Leave My Family Out”: Nikki Haley Attacks Vivek Ramaswamy On Debate Stage

While other Republican Presidential hopefuls – Ms Haley, Mr DeSantis, Senator Tim Scott and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie – have also backed Israel’s war against Hamas, Mr Ramaswamy has dismissed them as ‘neocons’ as he positions himself as an ‘America First’ candidate.

‘Neocon’ refers to Neoconservatism – a foreign policy supporting democracy as well as intervention in international affairs. Neocons are seen as taking the ‘peace through military strength’ route.

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With input from agencies