'Mahua Moitra's expulsion from Lok Sabha will help her': Mamata Banerjee on cash-for-query row

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday broke her silence on her party's MP  Mahua Moitra's cash-for-query case. Addressing TMC workers at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata, Banerjee said that after the arrest of her party's leaders in different cases, Moitra's likely expulsion from Lok Sabha is being planned, but this would help her before elections.

"Mahua Moitra's expulsion from Lok Sabha is being planned... but this will help her before (the 2024 general) election," Banerjee said Thursday at an event in Kolkata, as she attacked the ruling BJP over the use of central investigative agencies to target rival leaders.

"Central agencies targetting opposition leaders at present will go after BJP, following the 2024 election," she said. "This government at the Centre is there for three more months," Banerjee added.

Moitra is facing allegations of allowing businessman Darshan Hiranandani to post Parliament questions directly to the dedicated online portal in exchange for money and gifts.

The ruling party BJP has claimed that Moitra has put national security at risk through her alleged act. 

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had first raised the issue and he filed a complaint demanding Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to launch a probe into it. Following this, an inquiry was launched by the Lok Sabha ethics committee.

Hiranandani initially denied the charge but later claimed in a signed affidavit that Moitra targeted Adani to “malign and embarrass” PM Narendra Modi who has often been accused by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of favouring the Adani Group, led by billionaire Gautam Adani.

On her part, Moitra has rejected the allegations against her, terming them as "false, baseless and not supported by even a shred of evidence". 

Following the hearings in the case, the Ethics panel adopted its 500-page report recommending Moitra's expulsion from the 17th Lok Sabha in view of her "highly objectionable, unethical, heinous and criminal conduct". The report was adopted with a 6:4 majority.

The report has been submitted to Speaker Om Birla, as per news reports.

Also read: 'Cash for query' row: 'Adani was giving cash to not question,' alleges Mahua Moitra

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