LS polls: Mamata reconfirms decision to give ticket to Mahua

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee, on Thursday, reconfirmed that her party leader Mahua Moitra, who was expelled as an MP, will be contesting in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

“You can expel Mahua (Mahua Moitra) but she will again get elected by people’s votes,” Banerjee said while addressing a state government distribution programme at Santipur in Nadia. Moitra was seated on the dais when Banerjee made the statement.

“Why have they expelled Mahua? It was because she raised her voice for the common people’s cause,” Banerjee added.

Earlier too, Banerjee had stood by Moitra and said that BJP’s “vendetta politics” have come to the forefront with the expulsion of Moitra from Lok Sabha. “This is unfortunate for democracy. I thought that the Prime Minister must have reconsidered the decision. But when I got the information, I was shocked. It is a sad day for democracy,” Banerjee had said in December soon after Moitra’s expulsion. She had then assured that Moitra will be contesting from Krishnanagar parliamentary constituency

in Nadia.

Banerjee also expressed her dismay over Moitra not being allowed to defend herself and the members were not given enough time to go through the report of the Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha. The parties in the INDIA alliance had also backed Moitra and were critical of her suspension. Moitra was expelled for allegedly accepting cash and gifts from industrialist Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for Parliament login ID using which Hiranandani allegedly posted questions against industrialist Gautam Adani and the Adani Group. The complaint was first made by advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had forwarded the complaint to the Lok Sabha Speaker. The issue was transferred to the Ethics Committee which after questioning Nishikant Dubey, Jai Anant Dehadrai and Mahua Moitra, recommended

Moitra’s expulsion.