‘Will fight, stay put’: Mahua Moitra reaches out to voters, TMC workers from her seat after expulsion as MP

In the video message that was posted on Facebook, Mahua said, “I am your daughter… daughter of the soil. I will stay with you as long as you want me to be. This is a fight we will win. I will not leave the battleground. Will remain with you.”

“Ami apnader sansad Mahua Moitra bolchi (This is your MP Mahua Moitra speaking). I am grateful to every resident of Krishnanagar, TMC workers, and block presidents who for the last two days protested in support of me. I am grateful to those who sent me messages and were vociferous in their support,” she also said.

The former MP is also exploring legal options against her expulsion, it is learnt.

When contacted on Sunday, Moitra said that she will speak to mediapersons in “due time”. She is yet to finalise her next course of action against her expulsion since the Lok Sabha polls are just months away, it is learnt.

She had allocated works and tenders were processed under the MPLADS (Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme) in the constituency.

“Since the Lok Sabha polls are around the corner, her focus will now be on spending time in the constituency and reaching out to people. She will concentrate on party work in Nadia district for which she was recently made the party president,” said a party leader close to her.

She has even claimed within TMC circles that her expulsion will prove to be a blessing in disguise for her, another party leader said.

Apart from the TMC throwing its weight behind her, she is believed to have been emboldened by the support from the Congress, particularly from Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, on the day of her expulsion on Friday.

“Soon after her expulsion, while the MPs and leaders were coming out of Parliament, MP Sudip Bandopadhyay proposed that the agitation should be held near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi. But it was Rahul Gandhi who suggested that the stairs of Parliament were better suited for the purpose. And when she spoke, along with TMC MPs, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and other opposition leaders stood behind her. There could not have been a better show of Opposition solidarity,” the party leader said.