Crafting Comfort: The Future of Footwear in India
An article by Gagandeep Kohli, CEO of NoStrain India is the world’s second-largest footwear producer, after China, as was previously…
TMC leader Mahua Moitra is no longer an MP. After he was found guilty of unethical conduct, his membership of the Lok Sabha was revoked. The Ethics Committee found Mahua Moitra guilty of asking questions after taking money and recommended termination of her Lok Sabha membership. The report of the Ethics Committee headed by BJP MP Vinod Sonkar was tabled in the Lok Sabha and discussed. After the discussion, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla sought the opinion of the members on the proposal placed before the House whether they were in favor or against the termination of Moitra’s membership. Then the decision to cancel Mahua Moitra’s Lok Sabha membership was passed by voice vote. After leaving the House, Mahua raised questions on the Ethics Committee report.
Earlier, during the discussion on the Ethics Committee report, TMC MPs Sudip Bandopadhyay and Kalyan Banerjee sought permission to allow Mahua Moitra to speak on behalf of the party. However, on behalf of the government, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi gave the example of canceling the membership of 10 MPs in the year 2005. He said that the then Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had clearly said that since the MPs had got the opportunity to present their case before the Ethics Committee, now after being found guilty of bringing down the dignity of the Parliament, they would lose the moral right to speak in the House.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla also told TMC MPs that as per the accepted traditions of the House, Mahua cannot be allowed to speak. During the discussion, Mahua Moitra stood on her seat several times with the document of the speech, but she had to sit down every time. She could not speak even a single word.
During the discussion in the House, the issue of Cash for Query of 2005 also came up, when 10 members of Lok Sabha and one member of Rajya Sabha were expelled. During the discussion on the recommendation of the Ethics Committee in the Mahua Moitra case, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary accused the government of haste in this matter. On this, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi, while referring to the Cash for Query case of 2005, said that then 10 MPs were expelled without even hearing their side. Later, during the discussion on the Ethics Committee report, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee also said that Mahua Moitra should also be given a chance to express her views. By the way, the Ethics Committee had also summoned Moitra.
Mahua Moitra is accused of asking questions in Parliament on behalf of industrialist Darshan Hiranandani in return for expensive gifts. Not only this, she is accused of having disclosed her parliamentary login ID and password to Hiranandani so that she could ask questions directly.
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