Ethics Committee has no power to expel, this is beginning of BJP’s end: Moitra after expulsion from LS

New Delhi: After her expulsion as Member of Parliament for “unethical conduct”, Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra on Friday lashed out at the government, saying that the Ethics Committee has no power to expel and this is the beginning of the BJP’s end.

She also said that this Lok Sabha has also seen the weaponisation of a Parliamentary committee and the Ethics Committee report was a ‘weapon to force us into submission’.

She also said that she is 49 years old now and she will fight the BJP inside and outside Parliament for the next 30 years.

Moitra made the remarks after her expulsion from the Lok Sabha.

Announcing the expulsion of Moitra in the alleged charge of “cash for parliament questions”, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said: “This House accepts the conclusions of the Committee that MP Mahua Moitra’s conduct was immoral and indecent as an MP. So, it is not appropriate for her to continue as an MP.”

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra was expelled from the Lok Sabha in a ‘cash for parliament question’ case after the ethics panel report was adopted in the House on Friday.

The Lok Sabha’s ethics committee had recommended Moitra’s expulsion after it found her guilty of sharing her parliamentary logins with Dubai-based businessman Darshan Hiranandani.

The report was presented in the House around 12 noon. Following an adjournment, as soon as the House reconvened at 2 p.m., parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi moved a motion to discuss the panel report.

Lok Sabha, with majority votes, expelled Trinamool Congress MP as it adopted the ethics panel report and recommendation.

Addressing the media, Moitra said: “There is no evidence or any cash, any gifts anywhere. Expulsion is based on the ground that I have shared my Lok Sabha portal login. There are no rules to govern the share of the login. As the hearing of the Ethics Committee demonstrates, all of us MPs are conveyor belts to get questions from the public, from citizens to voice that in Parliament.”

She also said that “tomorrow, the CBI will be sent to my house and I will be harassed and will be harassed for next six months”.

“I am 49 years old and I will fight you for the next 30 years inside and outside Parliament. The Ethics Committee has no power to expel. You have assumed the power of the quasi authority. You have disregarded due process, and abused every tenet. This is the beginning of your (BJP) end. We are going to come back and we are going to see the end of yours (BJP),” Moitra said.

She also invoked BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri’s objectionable remarks against BSP MP Danish Ali asking why no action was taken against the BJP leader.

“Ramesh Bidhuri stands up in Parliament and makes objectionable remarks against Danish Ali, one of the few Muslim MPs…. the BJP has sent 303 MPs but hasn’t sent one Muslim MP to Parliament. No action has been taken against Bidhuri for abusing Ali…You hate minorities, you hate women, you hate nari shakti,” she said.

She said that as I was not allowed to speak inside the House I am speaking here. She said that the 17th Lok Sabha had been historic, witnessing the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill.

“But it has presided over the most tenacious witch-hunt of one of 78 women MPs,” Moitra said.

She said that the ethics panel, set up to serve as a “moral compass” for the members of the House, had been “abused” to do what it was never meant to be doing.

“This Lok Sabha has also seen the weaponisation of a Parliamentary committee,” Moitra said.

She said that the Lok Sabha ethics panel report was a ‘weapon to force us into submission’.

The Trinamool Congress leader also said that the report had broken every rule in the book, as the entire case against her was based on the sharing of login details, with no rules governing that aspect.

She also alleged that one of the two complainants in the cash-for-query inquiry was her estranged partner who had mala fide intention.

Moitra said: “He had masqueraded as a common citizen before the ethics panel.”

She also said that the findings in the report tabled by the ethics committee were based on the testimonies of just two persons, whose versions contradicted each other in material terms.

Following the expulsion of Moitra, opposition MPs, including CPP Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, staged a walkout from the House. They also walked to the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament.

–IANS