Bribes-For-Queries Controversy: Why Mahua Moitra’s Days In Trinamool Congress May Be Numbered

Controversial Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra, who is in the eye of a bribes-for-questions row, may be staring at expulsion from her party. 

While the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has distanced itself from her and left her to defend herself, it dropped broad hints that her days in the TMC may be numbered. 

The silence of the Trinamool Congress, which never shies away from defending even those accused in scams, after the controversy broke out was telling and provided an indication of the fate that awaits Moitra. 

After days of silence, Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh told the media Saturday (October 21) that the party had nothing to say on the issue and Moitra would defend herself. 

The Trinamool leadership then fielded party Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien Sunday (October 22) to speak to the media on the row. 

O’Brien, who is the leader of the party in the Upper House, said that the party would take “appropriate action” after the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee gives its ruling on the issue. 

O’Brien said: “We have observed reports in the media. The member concerned has been advised by the party leadership to clarify her position regarding the allegations levelled against her. She has already done that. However, since the matter has to do with an elected MP, her rights and privileges, let the matter be investigated by the right forum of Parliament, after which the party leadership will take an appropriate decision”.

The Trinamool leadership’s choice to field Derek O’Brien to announce the party’s stand on the controversy is significant. 

It is well known that Moitra and O’Brien are not on good terms. In fact, they are hardly on talking terms. The two have been locked in a fierce battle to emerge as the face of the party in New Delhi. 

Also, Derek O’Brien is a Rajya Sabha MP while Moitra is a Lok Sabha MP. The Trinamool leadership could have asked a senior Lok Sabha MP to interact with the media on this issue. But the reason it chose O’Brien was to deliver a snub to Moitra. 

Moitra was, during her tenure as an MLA (from 2016 to 2019), offered a Rajya Sabha seat by her party twice, but she turned down the offers. She insisted on being given a ticket to the Lok Sabha. 

“Her (Moitra’s) oft-stated position is that Rajya Sabha MPs are insignificant and not true politicians because they are nominated. She has often been heard telling people in the party that those who don’t have the stomach to fight elections or have no chances of winning an election take the easier Rajya Sabha route. She has always looked down on Rajya Sabha MPs,” a senior Trinamool leader who is also a cabinet minister told Swarajya. 

“Moitra and Derek are bitter rivals and court the same constituency in New Delhi--the elite, English-speaking class of people in various professions and vocations that the BJP refers to as the ‘Khan market gang’. Their rivalry goes back to at least ten years and turned very bitter after Moitra started bad-mouthing O’Brien,” said another senior Trinamool functionary who is also a Lok Sabha MP.

Thus, fielding O’Brien to tell the media that the party will take an “appropriate decision” on Moitra represented a huge snub to the Krishnanagar Lok Sabha MP and delivered a strong message to her as well. 

The feeling in the Trinamool is that the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee, which is headed by a BJP MP and has a majority of members from the saffron party, is likely to find Moitra guilty of the charges levelled against her and will recommend her dismissal from the Lok Sabha. 

Moitra knows well what the ‘appropriate action’ that O’Brien spoke of will be. Her fellow Lok Sabha MP who spoke to Swarajya said that it is clear to everyone in the party what the top leadership (Mamata Banerjee) has in mind for Moitra. 

Moitra sent desperate appeals to Banerjee when the controversy broke out last Sunday (October 15) for help and a show of solidarity. “

She (Moitra) reached out through a couple of Lok Sabha MPs. But Mamata Banerjee reportedly made it clear that Moitra would have to defend herself and the party would not get involved. 

The primary reason for that is because Moitra’s alleged misdeeds have not benefited the party in any manner. “If she has taken bribes in the form of expensive gifts, renovation of her bungalow or foreign travel expenses, it was for her own benefit and not that of the party. So the party is under no obligation to defend her,” said the Trinamool functionary. 

“While she defers to Mamata Banerjee because she knows she owes her Lok Sabha membership wholly to our party chairperson and would have never won any election in Bengal without her (Mamata Banerjee’s) blessings, she looks down on most others in the party. She flaunts her educational qualifications and the fact that she was an investment banker with a major global company. She is an elitist and looks down on ordinary people like us,” said the party functionary.

Moitra has also often fanned factionalism in the party and tried to undercut popular party leaders, especially in Nadia district (her Lok Sabha constituency--Krishnanagar--is in Nadia). That had earned her the ire of Banerjee, who even rebuked her at party meetings on at least three occasions. 

Also, Mamata Banerjee is angry with Moitra for disregarding her advice to tone down criticism of the Adani Group. 

Moitra, who has been a fierce critic of the Adani Group, especially Gautam Adani, both inside and outside Parliament, was told by party seniors to tone down her rhetoric against the group. But she did not pay heed. 

That put Mamata Banerjee in a bit of an uncomfortable position as she is keen on investments from the Adani group and is showcasing the Tajpur deep sea port project being executed by Adani Ports & SEZs as proof of Bengal’s conducive investment climate. 

Moitra, who does not have mass appeal, is considered to be expendable by the Trinamool. “The party has not really benefited by making her an MP in 2019. And now that is turning into a liability, the party is preparing to drop her,” said political observer and columnist Rudranil Guha. 

It is quite certain that Moitra will not get the party ticket for the Lok Sabha elections next year. Senior party leaders told Swarajya that if the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee rules against her, she will be asked to resign from the party on her own. 

Moitra, it is learnt from unimpeachable sources, is preparing for that eventuality and has reached out to the Congress leadership. 

Moitra was vice-president of global financial company J P Morgan Chase’s UK operations before she quit her career and joined politics. She joined the Youth Congress in 2009 following an appeal by Rahul Gandhi to young and accomplished professionals to join the party. 

Moitra got close to Rahul Gandhi when she joined the ‘Aam Aadmi Ki Sipahi’ programme that he had launched. But she left the Congress and joined the Trinamool in 2010 when she realised that the Congress does not have much of a future in Bengal and also for some other personal reasons. 

She became a vocal spokesperson for the party and was awarded the party ticket for Karimpur Assembly seat (in Nadia district) in 2016. She won, and was then fielded as the party candidate from Krishnanagar Lok Sabha seat in 2019. 

Moitra, after entering the Lok Sabha in 2019, mended fences with Rahul Gandhi.

Moitra reckons that her departure from the Trinamool will not mark the end of her political career and her options are open. That is why she reached out to Rahul Gandhi a few times in recent days. 

Moitra’s calculation is that if she is asked to resign from the Trinamool, or is not given the party ticket to contest next year, she will return to the Congress and can easily get a Congress ticket to contest from Krishnanagar. 

But what may foil Moitra's plan is the fact that Mamata Banerjee will not give up the Krishnanagar seat to the Congress. The Trinamool and the Congress, which are part of the I.N.D.I Alliance, hope to seal a seat-sharing deal before next year’s Lok Sabha elections. 

Mahua Moitra, thus, seems to be staring at an uncertain future in politics. Her days in the Trinamool are, in all likelihood, numbered. And that may mark the end of her political career as well.

Also read: Unease mounts in Trinamool over Mahua Moitra, party distances itself from her