Immediately disqualify Sisir and Sunil Mondal: TMC to LS Speaker

A day after BJP leader Swapan Dasgupta was renominated to the Rajya Sabha, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Wednesday urged the Lok Sabha Speaker to immediately address its petitions seeking the disqualification of two of its MPs for joining the BJP.

At a press conference at the Trinamool Bhavan here, party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, “There are two petitions that are lying before the honourable Speaker of Lok Sabha. Our Parliamentary Party leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay has written to the honourable Speaker demanding immediate disqualification of Sunil Kumar Mondal and Sisir Adhikari from Lok Sabha as being TMC MPs they have defected and joined the BJP. Now, if the President’s Office can be used to nominate to the Rajya Sabha a person who earlier resigned from the same, contested the Assembly election and was defeated, then why is there such delay from the Speaker’s office?”

He added, “He should immediately disqualify these two Lok Sabha MPs who have defected and joined the BJP despite being Lok Sabha member from the TMC.”

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Both Sunil Mondal and Sisir Adhikari, the father of BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari, had joined the saffron party ahead of the state Assembly elections.

Swapan Dasgupta had resigned from the Upper House to contest the West Bengal elections on a BJP ticket from Tarakeshwar in Hooghly district. He lost to Ramendu Sinharay of the TMC