Is Adani factor behind TMC's lack of vocal support for Mahua Moitra?

The TMC’s decision to disassociate itself from the controversy leaving Moitra in the lurch is part of an attempt to further corner her in the party where she has few friends.

TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said the party would not “utter a word” on the issue. Except for senior Bengal minister Firhad Hakim, no TMC leader has so far come out to defend the party MP.

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey accused Moitra of taking favours from businessman Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for asking questions about industrialist Gautam Adani. Dubey in his letter to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla, seeking an investigation into the row, further alleged that she shared her parliamentary login password with Hiranandani.

A day after the TMC distanced itself from the controversy, Hakim told a local TV channel on Sunday (October 22), “There has been an attempt to muzzle her voice because she is very vocal against the BJP.”

Not a team person

Not many in the TMC, though, share Hakim’s contention. Most TMC leaders are unwilling to defend the outspoken MP, who has not always toed the party line and is not viewed as a team person in the TMC circle.

They feel that the matter is best left to the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee, which is probing the allegations against her.

The party leadership would take appropriate decisions on Moitra once the parliamentary committee completes its investigation, the TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien told PTI on Sunday (October 22), lobbing the ball into the parliamentary panel’s court.

It is not the first time that the TMC refused to back its arguably most-vocal parliamentarian.

The party did not come to her support when Moitra’s comment on goddess Kali in an India Today conclave last year sparked a controversy.

The TMC had said Moitra made the comment in her “personal capacity” and that the party did not “endorse” the remark.

After the TMC had announced its stand on its twitter handle (now X), Moitra unfollowed the party’s official twitter handle.

That again was not the first time Moitra snubbed the party, causing major embarrassment for the party leadership.

In 2015, she had apologised to Jadavpur University professor Ambikesh Mahapatra for being “wronged” by the police. The professor was arrested for circulating on social media a photo spoof of TMC supremo and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her then No 2 in the party, Mukul Roy, in 2012.

Moitra again raked up the issue of cut-money culture in the TMC ahead of the 2021 assembly elections much to the chagrin of the party leadership.

At least twice in the recent past the TMC supremo had rebuked Moitra publicly, triggering speculation that she might not even get a party ticket in the 2024 parliamentary elections.

Uneasy relationship with Mamata

That Moitra does not share a very good rapport with Mamata Banerjee and her heir apparent Abhishek Banerjee is an open secret in the political corridors of Bengal.

TMC insiders say a hitch in Mamata-Moitra relations date back to 2009 when the latter was in the Congress.

Due to Mamata’s strong opposition ahead of the Lok Sabha elections that year, the TMC’s then alliance partner Congress denied a ticket to Moitra from Krishnanagar constituency.

Much water has flown down the Ganges since then. Moitra shifted her political allegiance in 2010 to join the TMC. Her political shift however did not completely amend her relationship with the TMC chief.

TMC sources said Moitra has never gone out of the way to develop a close affinity with the party supremo.

“She never hesitates to speak out her mind even if that defies the party line,” pointed out political commentator Probir Pramanik.

TMC wooing Adani to invest in Bengal

Pramanik said her tirades against the Adani group are not exactly in sync with the TMC’s stand at a time when the party-led government in Bengal is wooing the controversial business tycoon for investment in the state.

In October last year the West Bengal government awarded the Letter of Intent to Adani Ports for development of the Tajpur deep sea port on ‘design, build, operate, and transfer model.’

It entails an investment of ₹25,000 crore. The state government is in talks with the Adani group for investment in other sectors too, official sources said.

Considering the investment potential of the Adani group in the state, the TMC leadership is not in favour of antagonising the group. Hence, it has decided to remain aloof from Moitra’s fight against the group.

“On the strength of her being the darling of the Left liberals and Bengali bhadraloks - a constituency the TMC dares not antagonise - she could survive all odds in the party even without being in the good books of its first family,” Pramanik said.

The TMC is awaiting the verdict of the parliamentary committee because if it goes against her, then even her upper crust support base will desert her, making her lonelier.