She will return with a bigger mandate: Mamata on Mahua Moitra expulsion

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday condemned the decision to expel Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra from the Lok Sabha in the ‘cash-for-query’ case, dubbing the move as a “betrayal” of the country’s parliamentary democracy.

Moitra was expelled after the house adopted the report of the parliamentary ethics committee that held her guilty of accepting gifts and illegal gratification from businessman Darshan Hiranandani to further his interests.

“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,” she told reporters in Kolkata.

The feisty TMC chief claimed that the BJP didn’t allow Moitra, elected to the Lok Sabha from Nadia district in West Bengal, to even explain her stand.

After a heated debate over the panel report, during which Moitra was not allowed to speak, parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi moved a motion to expel the TMC member for "unethical conduct", which was adopted by a voice vote.

“But she (Moitra) will return to Parliament with a bigger mandate. The BJP thinks the party can do whatever it wants since it has a brute majority. They must keep in mind that a day may come when they may not be in power,” Banerjee said.