The Trinamool Congress on Wednesday demanded the expulsion of a member of parliament from the Bharatiya Janata Party, alleging he issued the visitors' pass to the two men breached the Lok Sabha security on the 22nd anniversary of 2001 Parliament attack.
Invoking the expulsion of party MP Mahua Moitra, the TMC posted on its X handle,"Our MP Mahua Moitra was unjustly expelled for allegedly breaching national security by sharing her login credentials. Today @BJP4Karnataka MP @mepratap put the security of the entire Parliament at risk by issuing a visitor's pass to the intruders."
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“What is stopping him from getting expelled? Why should a similar treatment not be meted out to him? What gives him the right to continue as a Parliamentarian after jeopardising the safety of fellow MPs?” the party added.
TMC leader Shashi Panja echoed the party's stand on the incident. “TMC is going to raise two questions & we will see that BJP & Lok Sabha follow this. BJP MP Pratap Simha gave two passes through which these two people entered. The security of the Parliament & the country was breached. TMC's Mahua Moitra was expelled for sharing her login ID & password which became a question of national security...This BJP MP should be expelled from the Parliament...”
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Two persons jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour and released yellow gas from canisters and shouted slogans before being overpowered by MPs.
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Around the same time, a man and a woman also sprayed coloured gas from canisters while shouting slogans "tanashahi nahi chalegi" outside the Parliament premises.
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Not just TMC, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor too accused Simha of issuing the passes to the accused. “The fact is that these people (intruders) were apparently sponsored by a sitting MP of the ruling party...These people smuggled in smoke pistols, which shows there is a serious security lapse. Not only did they fire the pistols but also shouted some slogans inaudible to some of us,” he said.
“The new building does not seem to be configured very well when it comes to security in comparison with the arrangements in the old building,” he added.