'Mahua's Lok Sabha Expulsion Being Planned But...': Mamata Breaks Silence On Cash-For-Query Row

Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said, Mahua Moitra's expulsion from Lok Sabha is being planned, but this would only help her before the elections in 2024

TMC leader Mahua Moitra and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

Source : PTI

For the first time, Trinamool Congress supremo and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee spoke on the possibility of the expulsion of Mahua Moitra from Lok Sabha over the cash-for-query case. Banerjee said Mahua Moitra's expulsion from Lok Sabha is being planned, but this would only help her before the elections in 2024, reported news agency PTI. 

Earlier, Moitra, too, had said that this would help her prospects in 2024.

TMC leader Mahua Moitra is currently facing an inquiry by the ethics committee over the alleged illegal disclosure of her Lok Sabha login details. The BJP has also claimed that she put national security at risk through her alleged act. 

Earlier this month, Head of the Ethics Committee in Lok Sabha Vinod Kumar Sonkar submitted the panel's findings regarding the 'cash-for-query' allegations against Moitra to Speaker Om Birla's office. According to sources, the committee unanimously suggested the expulsion of Moitra from the House, alleging that she received "illegal gratifications" from businessman Darshan Hiranandani to raise concerns in Parliament on his behalf. The committee asserted that Moitra should be removed from the Lok Sabha due to "unethical conduct" and "contempt of the House."

Out of the ten members present at the Committee meeting, six voted in favour of the 479-page report, while four members opposed it.

The dissenting members argued that the panel's recommendation was "prejudiced" and "incorrect", stressing that businessman Darshan Hiranandani, who is accused of bribing Moitra, should have been called to testify before the panel. They noted that Hiranandani had only submitted an affidavit.

Soon after the panel submitted its report, Moitra expressed her "pride" in going down in parliamentary history as the first person to be "unethically expelled" by the Ethics Committee, emphasizing that the committee's mandate does not include expulsion. She criticized the hearing as a "kangaroo court" and "monkey business from start to finish".

Moitra, undeterred by the recommended expulsion, stated, "Never Waste a Good Crisis they say... - this just helped me double my 2024 winning margin."

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