Mahua Moitra after expulsion from Lok Sabha: ‘Ethics Panel broke every rule… it’s a weapon to force us into submission’

“In essence I have been found guilty of breaching code of ethics that does not exist. The ethics panel, its report broke every rule in book. It’s a weapon to force us into submission,” Mahua said.

She went on to say that the ethics panel was punishing her for a practice that is routine, accepted and encouraged in Lok Sabha.

The TMC leader further alleged that the panel findings were “solely based on written testimonies of two persons whose versions contradict each other in material terms.”

“I am 49 years old, I will fight you for the next 30 years inside Parliament, outside Parliament,” Mahua said, flanked by Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and other Opposition leaders.

Along with Moitra, the Opposition members had walked out of Lok Sabha following her expulsion, terming the move ad ‘unethical conduct’.

The Ethics Committee report recommending disqualification of Mahua Moitra was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Friday by BJP MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar amid din created by the Opposition members, who were protesting against the government.

The Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha, which inquired into the cash-for-query allegations levelled by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey against TMC MP Mahua Moitra, had recommended her expulsion from the 17th Lok Sabha for “unethical conduct” and “serious misdemeanours.”

The committee had also recommended an “intense, legal, institutional inquiry” by the government in a time-bound manner in view of the “highly objectionable, unethical, heinous and criminal conduct” by her.