The Trinamool Congress leadership on November 9 put its weight behind Member of Parliament (MP) Mahua Moitra by raising questions on why the Ethics Committee of Parliament is not taking up allegations against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs and stating that the party MP was ‘competent enough to fight her own battle’.
“I think Mahua Moitra is competent enough to fight her battle on her own... They [the agencies] have been calling me and interrogating for the past four years, trying to tag me in different cases... This has become their standard operating procedure,” Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said.
Speaking to media persons hours before the Ethics Committee adopted a report recommending expulsion of Ms. Moitra from the Lok Sabha with six members supporting and four opposing it, Mr. Banerjee raised questions on why no action has been in several pending cases in the Ethics Committee including that against BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri who ‘used foul language in the Parliament’.
“There have been several such cases where a privilege motion against BJP MPs is still pending and there is no hearing... But if somebody wants to question the government or raise concerns over the malpractices by Adani, how can they be expelled as MPs,” the Trinamool leader said. Mr. Banerjee made the remarks while speaking to media persons outside the office of Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Kolkata where he was summoned in connection with the West Bengal recruitment scam.
This is the first time since the allegations against Ms. Moitra have surfaced in ‘cash for question’ issue that the top leadership of Trinamool Congress have extended their support to the Krishnanagar MP. The party’s earlier response on the issue of extending support to Ms. Moitra has been vague. The Trinamool’s second in command also asked as to what investigation was carried by the Ethics Committee to recommend expulsion of the Trinamool Congress
Later in the day, after the report recommending expulsion of Ms. Moitra became public, Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh came in support of the party MP. Mr. Ghosh said that the resolution of the Ethics Committee to expel Ms. Moitra was an attempt to “stifle her voice” in the Parliament. “ The BJP cannot defeat us in elections, that is why they are targeting us from the back door. The Ethics Committee should answer why allegations against BJP leaders are pending before the Committee. The Ethics committee has tried to unethically remove Mahua Moitra from Lok Sabha,” the Trinamool spokesperson said.
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Mahua Moitra was elected to Lok Sabha from Krishnanagar seat in State’s Nadia district in 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Ms. Moitra had defeated BJP’s Kalyan Choubey by a margin of over 63,000 votes. Ms. Moitra, who joined Trinamool Congress from the Congress party in 2010, had also served as MLA from Karimpur Assembly seat in the same district from 2016-2019.
Meanwhile, speaking on the issue of ED summons to him, Abhishek Banerjee said that he had submitted a 6,000-page reply to the agency. “If officials want to call me after going through, I will cooperate like I always have done,” the Trinamool leader said. This was the sixth time that Mr. Banerjee was summoned by the central agencies in connection with the recruitment scam.
