Expelling Mahua will make her popular: Mamata's first reaction after 'Cash-for-Query' row
Nov 23, 2023
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], November 23 : In her first-ever public statement on Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra, who is under the scanner for the "Cash-for-Query" allegations, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that expelling Moitra will make her popular for three months.
"They (BJP) plan to expel Mahua. This will make her popular for three months. Whatever she used to say inside (Parliament), she will be saying outside. She will hold press conferences every day and speak outside. What difference will it make?" the Chief Minister said on Thursday while addressing party workers at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata.
Mamata asked if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were "idiots" for planning to disqualify Moitra just three months ahead of the General Elections.
"Are they idiots? That too, that they are doing this three months before the election?" she said.
The chief minister said that Mahua's expulsion from Lok Sabha will only help the MP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Mamata's silence on the "Cash for-Query" row and on her party's most fiery speaker in the Lok Sabha was long criticised by her political opponents, especially the BJP.
Earlier this month, TMC General Secretary and Mamata's nephew, Abhishek Banerjee expressed solidarity with Moitra ahead of the Ethics Committee meeting on the "Cash-for-Query" allegations. Abhishek Banerjee has said that Mahua Moitra is competent enough to fight her battle on her own.
"Just note that yesterday, the current chairman of the Ethics Committee recommended expulsion. When you have no evidence then how could you recommend expulsion? I think Mahua Moitra is competent enough to fight her battle on her own. They have been calling me for the last 4 years and trying to trap me in different cases," Abhishek Banerjee had said.
Moitra is facing the heat of the "cash-for-query" allegations against her. The Lok Sabha Ethics Committee has recently recommended her expulsion from the Lower House.
