Kolkata, Sep 2 (PTI) “The wigs and masks have come off,” TMC parliamentarian Mahua Moitra said on Wednesday, in a swipe at 20 rebel MPs of the party, who have aligned with the NCPI, for seeking more time to respond to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s notices on disqualification pleas.
The Lok Sabha Secretariat issued notices to the rebel Trinamool Congress MPs on August 26 and sought their replies within seven days on petitions filed by TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee, seeking their disqualification under the anti-defection law.
A day earlier, senior leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay said the 20 MPs have sought three weeks to respond to notices.
“Are they waiting for BJP lawyers to prepare their replies? They keep telling everyone that they are no longer with the Trinamool Congress but the NCPI. If you are with the NCPI, then why do you need more than a week to answer?” Moitra posed.
She said the rebels, who were elected on TMC tickets before aligning themselves with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) and the BJP-led NDA, had failed to respond within the seven-day deadline set by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
“We had filed 20 disqualification petitions against the MPs who were elected on Trinamool Congress tickets and later joined hands with the BJP.
“The Speaker of the Lok Sabha issued notices to them, asking them to respond within seven days. Yesterday was the last day for them to submit their replies. But even after the seven-day deadline, they could not submit their replies. They have now apparently sought another two or three weeks,” Moitra told reporters.
The Krishnanagar MP said their inability to respond in time had exposed the gap between their political posturing and their legal position.
“Their shamelessness and betrayal are for everyone to see. The wigs and masks of all these big stars have come off — those who claim that they created Mamata Banerjee, and some who boast of being five-time MPs. If someone asks me a question today, I will not need long to respond. So how could they fail to reply even after being given an entire week?” she said.
Moitra questioned why the MPs needed additional time when the TMC had approached the Lok Sabha Speaker over the issue in June and subsequently moved the Supreme Court.
“Our question is this: on June 19, the Trinamool Congress wrote to the Speaker seeking the disqualification of these 20 MPs. We subsequently approached the court, and altogether two months have passed. Yet, strangely, they still do not have an answer as to why they should not be disqualified,” she said.
The two-time Lok Sabha MP from Krishnanagar and a prominent leader of the Mamata Banerjee camp, who has emerged as one of the party’s most vocal critics of the dissident MPs, said the request for additional time had strengthened the TMC’s contention that the rebel MPs were yet to come up with a substantive defence against the disqualification petitions.
The rebel MPs are understood to be consulting lawyers before submitting their replies. PTI PNT NSD
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