'Moitra's expulsion is an example of BJP's atrocities against women'

KOLKATA: Targeting the Bharatiya Janata Party over the expulsion of TMC MP Mahua Moitra from the 17th Lok Sabha in the 'cash for query' case, TMC leader Chandrima Bhattacharya on Friday said that Moitra's expulsion is an example of BJP's atrocities against women. Further, alleging a conspiracy, she added that Moitra expulsion "was a preconceived event that was supposed to happen".

"In the new parliament house, this is a history that has been created by the central government and, more particularly, the MPs. We have seen that Parliament, by raising only their voices, has expelled a single woman MP, Mahua Moitra...this is an example of their (BJP) atrocities against women...this was a preconceived event that was supposed to happen..."

Moitra was expelled from the Lok Sabha after a discussion on the report of the Ethics Committee in the 'cash for query' that was tabled in the Lower House today. Opposition leaders on Friday questioned the Lok Sabha Ethics Panel recommendation for expelling Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra and accused BJP-led government of indulging in 'vendetta politics'. West Bengal minister and TMC leader Dr Shashi Panja asserted that Moitra will contest the 2024 elections.

"A woman in power is something which BJP cannot tolerate....How did they think this expulsion was enough to mute her just because she spoke against BJP? In 2024, she will contest the elections," Panja said.

Rajya Sabha MP from the Communist Party of India Binoy Viswam called it a political vendetta. "The way in which the Ethics Committee was behaving, one should feel it is a politically motivated scenario with absolute vendetta.

The vendetta was against a critic of the government," he said. Meanwhile, Congress MP Rajni Patil demanded a complete inquiry and said that proof should be given and then a decision should be taken. "A parliamentarian is not limited to a constituency... If they are criticising this, a complete inquiry should be conducted - proof should be given, and then a decision should be taken," MP Rajni Patil said.

The Ethics Committee report probing 'Unethical Conduct' of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP had recommended that Moitra "may be expelled" from the Lok Sabha and called for an "intense, legal, institutional inquiry" by the central government in a "time-bound manner". "The serious misdemeanours on the part of Mahua Moitra calls for severe punishment. The Committee, therefore, recommend that Mahua Moitra, MP may be expelled from the Membership of the Seventeenth Lok Sabha," the report read. Union Parliamentary Pralhad Joshi had moved the motion to consider the report of the Ethics commitee which was further taken up for the debate. Mahua Moitra is facing the heat of the "cash-for-query" allegations against her.

The Lok Sabha Ethics Committee had recently recommended her expulsion from the Lower House. The draft report was adopted by a 6:4 majority in the panel last month. As per the sources, the draft report on Moitra's cash-for-questions case reveals that she visited the UAE four times from 2019 to 2023 while her login was accessed several times.