TMC stands by Moitra, gives her key party post

Beleaguered Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, whose expulsion from the Lok Sabha has been recommended by the Ethics Committee for allegedly accepting bribes to ask questions, has finally received unequivocal support from her party.

The Trinamool Congress on Monday announced the appointment of Moitra as its Nadia district president which includes Krishnanagar, Moitra’s constituency, months before the Lok Sabha elections.

Reacting to the appointment, Moitra thanked West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, saying that she would always work with the party for the people of Krishnanagar. Moitra’s appointment marks a significant change in the Trinamool’s stance, since it had initially distanced itself from Moitra in the wake of the allegations.

The party’s decision to stand by Moitra is likely due to a number of factors, including her popularity among the party’s base in her constituency, the fact that she has denied the allegations, and the lack of any concrete evidence to support the allegations.

The change in the party’s stand was first noticed last week when Trinamool Congress number two Abhishek Banerjee termed Moitra as a “firebrand leader”, even though the party’s leaders including party chief Mamata Banerjee had remained non-committal when politicians from other political parties like Congress and the CPIM had come out in Moitra’s support.

Last week, the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee recommended the expulsion of Moitra after a complaint by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey that she sought favours from businessman Darshan Hiranandani to ask questions against industrialist Gautam Adani. Dubey had cited the complaint by a lawyer and former close friend of Mahua Moitra, advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai.

The Hiranandani Group had initially dismissed Dubey’s allegations as having “no merit”. However, on October 19, Hiranandani, the chief executive officer of the real estate company, submitted an affidavit admitting his close relationship with Moitra.

Moitra had clarified in an interview in October that she gave Hiranandani access to her online Lok Sabha account but denied taking any bribes from him. She had claimed that MPs do not type their own questions and that the queries can only be submitted upon entering a one-time password, which is delivered to the phone number of the legislators.

The Lok Sabha Ethics Committee, which investigated the allegations, adopted its report on November 8. Six panel members supported it and four submitted dissent notes. In its 479-page report, the committee recommended Moitra’s expulsion from the Lok Sabha.

The committee had also recommended an “intense, legal, institutional inquiry” by the Government in a time-bound manner in view of the “highly objectionable, unethical, heinous and criminal conduct” by her. The matter is now before the Lok Sabha Speaker, who will decide whether to accept the committee’s recommendation.