Kolkata: Leader of the Trinamool Congress party in the Lok Sabha Sudip Bandopadhyay held a telephonic conversation with Speaker Om Birla on Thursday seeking disqualification of party MPs Sisir Adhikari and Sunil Mondal, who left the TMC and joined the BJP, under anti-defection rules
“In January I asked Om Birla to cancel the MP posts of the two turncoat leaders as they on record have defected to another party. Today Om Birla called me and said that he will look into the matter and do the needful,” claimed Sudip.
Kanthi MP Adhikari and Bardhaman Purba MP Sunil Mondal, elected on TMC tickets in the 2019 general elections, had switched over to the BJP before the assembly polls but did not step down from the TMC.
Slamming the ruling Trinamool Congress for the move, Left Front chairman Biman Basu said that after 2016 assembly elections several CPI (M) leaders have also defected to the ruling Trinamool Congress but the Left Front never asked for the cancellation of posts of the defected leaders.
“Such a move clearly indicates the vindictive politics of the Trinamool Congress as the CPI (M) never sought such a thing after several leaders defected to the TMC,” claimed the senior Politburo member.
Notably, not just after 2016 assembly polls, several Left Front and Congress leaders and cadres even after 2019 parliamentary election have defected to the TMC and the BJP but neither the Left Front nor the Congress appealed to the speaker over cancellation of MP post.
West Bengal BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya also termed it as a ‘vindictive move’ of the Trinamool Congress. However, Sisir Adhikari didn’t comment on this issue.