'This kangaroo court...': TMC's Mahua Moitra slams ethics panel after expulsion as MP

TMC MP Mahua Moitra has been expelled from the Lok Sabha on Friday in "cash for query" matter. The development comes hours after the Ethics Committee's report was tabled in the House on Friday.

The report was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Friday amid an uproar by opposition MPs who questioned the procedure followed by the panel and demanded a discussion on the report.

Before adjourning the House till December 11, 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."

After her expulsion, Moitra said "this is the beginning of BJP's end".

"The Ethics Committee has no power to expel. This is the beginning of your(BJP) end," says Mahua Moitra after her expulsion as TMC MP.

"If this Modi government thought that by shutting me up they could do away with the Adani issue, let me tell you this that this kangaroo court has only shown to all of India that the haste and the abuse of due process you have used demonstrates how important Adani is to you. And to what length you will go to harass a single woman MP into shutting her into submission," she said.

At a meeting on November 9, the committee adopted its report recommending Moitra’s expulsion from the Lok Sabha over the “cash-for-query” allegation. Six members of the panel, including suspended Congress member Preneet Kaur, voted in favour of the report. Four members of the panel belonging to opposition parties submitted dissent notes. 

The report had said: "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.

"In view of highly objectionable, unethical, heinous and criminal conduct of Mahua Moitra, the Committee recommends for an intense, legal, institutional inquiry by the Government of India in a time-bound manner."

TMC chairperson and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee spoke about the expulsion of Mahua Moitra from Lok Sabha.

"Today, I am sad to see the attitude of the BJP party. How they betray democracy. They didn't allow Mahua to explain her stand. Full injustice has been done," she said.