West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee has condemned the expulsion of her party MP Mahua Moitra from Lok Sabha today, calling it an open act of “vendetta politics” by the BJP.
Ms Moitra, 49, was expelled from Lok Sabha today after an Ethics Committee report that held her guilty of taking bribes in exchange for slamming the government. The Trinamool leader now faces accusations of getting cash and gifts from businessman Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for posing questions in the nation’s Parliament, which sheds a negative light on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Chief Minister Mama Banerjee commented, “This is vendetta politics of BJP. They killed democracy…It is injustice. Mahua will win the battle. The people will give a befitting reply to the BJP. They will be defeated in the next election,” She further added “It is a shame for parliamentary democracy. We condemn the way Mahua Moitra was expelled, the party stands with her. They (the BJP) can’t defeat us in the election, so they have resorted to vendetta politics. It is a sad day and the betrayal of Indian parliamentary democracy,”
Mamta Banerjee claimed that the ruling party denied the MP the opportunity to defend herself against the bribe accusations. Ms Banerjee said, “She (Ms Moitra) will return to Parliament with a bigger mandate. The BJP thinks the party can do whatever it wants as they have a brute majority. They must keep in mind that a day might come when they may not be in power,”
Even after a heated debate and demand from Ms Moitra and opposition members for her to speak, she was not given any kind of opportunity to defend herself before the vote took place. It was Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi who moved a motion against her for an expulsion based on “unethical conduct”, which was adopted by a voice vote.
