‘Petty and shameful’: TMC's Mahua Moitra alleges less screen time for opposition leaders in Parliament

TMC MP Mahua Moitra on Wednesday hit out at public broadcaster Sansad TV for not giving screen time to opposition leaders when they speak in the House.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra on Wednesday hit out at public broadcaster Sansad TV for allegedly not giving screen time to opposition leaders when they speak in the House during the no-confidence motion debate.

Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra (PTI)

“Shame Shame @sansad_tv Everyone see how they focus non stop on all BJP speakers during No confidence debate but only focus on Chairperson whenever INDIA speakers are on. Petty & shameful- you are funded by taxpayer money,” Moitra wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

She also tagged DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi and said she was not shown by the broadcaster during her speech, rather the focus was on BJP's Heena Gavit.

Earlier the Congress also accused the public broadcaster of giving less screen time to Rahul Gandhi - who spoke for the first time in Lok Sabha after being reinstated as MP.

Congress general secretary in-charge (Communications) Jairam Ramesh wrote on X, “In his first speech after coming back from the unjustified disqualification, @RahulGandhi spoke from 12:09pm to 12:46pm i.e. 37 minutes during the No-Confidence Motion. Out of which the Sansad TV camera showed him for ONLY 14 mins 37 seconds. That’s less than 40% screen time! What is Mr. Modi afraid of?”

“This gets even worse! @RahulGandhi spoke on Manipur for 15 min 42 seconds. During which, Sansad TV’s camera focused on the Speaker Om Birla for 11 min 08 seconds i.e. 71% of the time. Sansad TV showed @RahulGandhi on video for only 4 min 34 seconds while he spoke on Manipur”, he added.

The Lok Sabha has been debating the no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition I.N.D.I.A bloc against the ruling government.