"Mahua was trapped...": AAP MP Sandeep Pathak extends support to Moitra

New Delhi [India], December 8 : Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak extended support to TMC MP Mahua Moitra after she was expelled from the Lok Sabha on Friday, saying that she was "trapped."
Moitra was expelled from the Lok Sabha after a discussion on the report of the Ethics Committee in the 'cash for query' that was tabled in the Lower House today.
"A target was set that she (Mahua Moitra) was to be removed and then a strategic plan was made...She was trapped...Everyone knew that all this was done to suspend her...We are with Mahua Moitra," Pathak said.
Congress leader Supriya Shrinate lashed out at the BJP and said that the BJP is afraid of strong women.
"The biggest contradiction is that you made some allegations against one person, everyone was speaking but she (Mahua Moitra) was not given a chance to speak and give clarification. I think this is not fair...BJP is afraid of strong women. If someone talks about Adani, there is no place for them in the House. The truth is action will be taken against anyone who raises questions about the relationship between Adani and Modi," Shrinate added.
Meanwhile, Congress leader TS Singh Deo said said that no such information is made available in the account given to any MP or MLA that is of national interest.
"No such information is made available in the account given to any MP or MLA that is of national interest. There is a ban on asking questions on questions of national interest...Tell us which matter of national interest was in Mahua Moitra's account?..." Deo said.
Moreover, BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul said that Mahua Moitra has played with the security of the nation and still, she doesn't have any shame.
"This was about to happen. We were sure that this would happen because anybody, whoever it is, is not above the law. Mahua Moitra has played with the security of the nation and still, she doesn't have any shame," Paul said.
"She has been trying to confuse the matter and saying that because she was questioning Adani and Modi, that's why she was removed. No, not at all...She sold herself and we are again sure that the CBI investigation will start and she will soon go to jail," she added.
The expelled Lok Sabha MP alleged that she has been found guilty of breaching a code of ethics that 'does not exist'.
Following her expulsion from the 17th Lok Sabha as a Trinamool Congress MP in a 'cash for query' case, TMC leader Mahua Moitra on Friday said that the Ethics Committee probing the matter is another "weapon to crush opposition into submission" and that the panel has broken every rule in the book.
Soon after her expulsion, she read her statement on Parliament premises and said, "This LS has also seen the weaponisation of the Parliamentary committee. Ironically the Ethics Committee which was set up to serve as a moral compass for members, instead it has been abused egregiously today to do exactly what it was never meant to do, which is to bulldoze the opposition and become another weapon to 'thok do' (crush) us into submission."
"This committee and this report have broken every rule in the book. In essence you are finding me guilty of breaching a code of ethics that does not exist," Moitra said, adding that the committee is punishing her for engaging in a practice that is routine, accepted and encouraged in the House.
Moitra further alleged that the findings are solely based on the written testimonies of two private citizens whose versions contradict each other in material terms and her right to cross examine them was snatched.
"None of whom I was allowed to cross-examine. One of the two private citizens is my estranged partner, who with malafide intention, masqueraded as a common citizen in front of the committe. The two testimonies have been used to hang me there at polar opposites to each other," she said.
"The complainant says (that) I accepted cash in consideration for my businessman to ask questions in furtherance of his commercial interests. But the businessman's suo motu affidavit, says I pressurised him into uploading questions to further my agenda. The two are at pole of opposites," she clarified on the issue.
The Ethics Committee report probing 'Unethical Conduct' of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP had recommended that Moitra "may be expelled" from the Lok Sabha and called for an "intense, legal, institutional inquiry" by the central government in a "time-bound manner".
"The serious misdemeanours on the part of Mahua Moitra calls for severe punishment. The Committee, therefore, recommend that Mahua Moitra, MP may be expelled from the Membership of the Seventeenth Lok Sabha," the report read.
Speaker Om Birla said, "...This House accepts the conclusions of the Committee that MP Mahua Moitra's conduct was immoral and indecent as an MP. So, it is not appropriate for her to continue as an MP..."
The House was then adjourned till December 11.The opposition MPs immediately staged a walkout after the Lok Sabha adopted the motion to expel Mahua Moitra as TMC Member of Parliament.