New Delhi: Trinamool Congress on Thursday said it supports Congress protests against the suspension of its 25 MPs, but has stayed away from the demonstrations in Parliament because of the Left parties.
The party's comments comes as eyebrows are being raised over its absence from the Sonia Gandhi-led joint protest in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Parliament complex for the last three days.
TMC has 34 MPs in the Lok Sabha.
"I made it clear to Soniaji that we will not sit on dharna with CPM when she wished to know about our participation in the protest. However, I said our party leader Mamata Banerjee completely supports Congress and we have remained away from debates and discussions in the House showing our solidarity with the suspended MPs," TMC's parliamentary party leader and Lok Sabha MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay told reporters.
Noting that he was the first to oppose the suspension of the Congress members, Bandyopadhyay asserted that the Congress protest has reached this "height" because of TMC's support.
TMC has taken a decision in the "best interest of parliamentary democracy" and has stayed away from the House, despite burning issues facing West Bengal like the worst flood situation and issues along the international borders, he said.
The Congress-led protest in Parliament complex entered the third day on Thursday with members from SP, JD(U) and RJD also joining in, as they shouted slogans accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of backing Lalit Modi and asked him to break his silence over various controversies including the Vyapam scam.
