TMC asks LS Speaker to disqualify turncoat MPs Sisir Adhikari & Sunil Mondal

KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress on Tuesday demanded immediate action on the part of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to disqualify party MPs Sisir Adhikari and Sunil Kumar Mondal, who had defected to BJP before the Assembly polls in Bengal.

"The two had won on TMC's symbol but had switched over to the BJP. Hence, they do not have the right to continue as Lok Sabha MPs as they have left the party. Our Lok Sabha leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay had written on more than one occasion to the Lok Sabha speaker to disqualify their MP status," Trinamool Congress (TMC) spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.

Adhikari, the MP from Kanthi had joined BJP on March 21 while Mondal , the MP from Burdwan Purba had defected in December 2020.

Bandyopadhyay had written on May 17 for disqualifying the MP status of Adhikari while in case of Mondal he had written twice on January 4 and May 12 .

TMC accused the BJP led government at the Centre of throwing all Parliamentary norms out of the window by renominating Swapan Dasgupta to the Upper House of the Parliament on Tuesday to fill the seat that fell vacant due to his resignation for his remainder term till April next.

Dasgupta had resigned from Rajya Sabha in March to contest the Bengal elections on BJP ticket as a nominated member cannot contest on any party ticket while continuing to hold the post in the House. He lost the Tarakeshwar constituency to his TMC rival, Ramendu Sinha Ray.