Kolkata: Breaking her silence for the first time on the ‘cash for query’ controversy surrounding her party MP, Mahua Moitra, Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee said that the BJP is attempting to remove her from Parliament but in doing so, they are making things easier for her ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Speaking at a party meeting, Mamata said that any attempted expulsion of Mahua from the Parliament will turn out to be a boon for her party MP, giving her a political mileage ahead of the Parliamentary elections.
She said that such a planned attack on Mahua will help the MP in her pursuit of victory in the elections.
She alleged that the BJP has launched a conspiracy against the TMC, hoping to reduce her party strength by getting her MLAs arrested but such a plan will ultimately backfire.
Recently, in a party reshuffle at the district level Mahua Moitra was appointed as the district president of Nadia-Krishnanagar. This, to many, appeared as the continuing support for the MP by her party. TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had called Mahua a “firebrand leader” who is being made a victim of BJP’s dirty politics and assured that Moitra retains the calibre to fight it out herself.
On the question of her possible expulsion from the Parliament, Abhishek had said that the very fact that the ethics committee recommended an investigation proved that they had nothing against her as of yet.
“In such circumstances where is the question of expulsion coming from?” Banerjee asked and reiterated, “Mahua is being targeted by the BJP as they know that she is an able Parliamentarian”.
Mahua has been accused of receiving cash and expensive gifts from businessman Darshan Hiranandani for asking questions in Parliament against the Adani Group.