The fact that Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee chose to maintain radio silence on the Mahua Moitra cash-for-query row in her first appearance before journalists in nearly 45 days was perhaps the most perspicuous of statements that came from the Trinamul Congress party on one of the murkiest imbroglios it seems to have got involved in recently.
Banerjee, rendered immobile since her return from the overseas business tour in September while aggravating the knee injury she earlier sustained, spent a good 35 minutes at the party office adjacent to her Kalighat residence on Thursday lambasting the BJP-led Centre for its “vindictive politics” and allegedly prodding the central agencies to conduct back-to-back raids at properties of her ministers and leaders to probe various alleged scams, the latest victim of which is senior minister Jyotipriya Mullick who was subsequently arrested early on Friday after over 17 hours of grilling.
While the ED raids found prominent mention in Banerjee's fiery statements, not a word was uttered about the simultaneous developments concerning Moitra in Delhi that have taken national politics by storm. That too, on a day when the Lok Sabha ethics committee recorded statements from the two complainants against the Trinamul MP -- her former partner and lawyer Jay Anant Dehadrai and BJP MP Nishikant Dubey. The committee also issued summons to the Trinamul parliamentarian to appear before the panel on October 31 to defend herself against accusations that she has taken cash to ask questions in the Lok Sabha.
In fact, express instructions were left with reporters at the press conference venue about the chief minister's inability to field questions from the media. Sure enough, Banerjee left after her monologue without taking any questions from the attending journalists.
Party sources confirmed privately that Banerjee may have found herself on a sticky wicket after it came to be widely believed that Moitra may indeed have shared her Parliament Login ID and password with her businessman friend Darshan Hiranandani who accessed the portal from an overseas location. It's also a charge that Moitra herself has not officially denied, but only pointed at fellow MPs who, apparently, also indulged in similar acts as a matter of “common practice”.
Banerjee, evidently, is uncomfortable with that scenario and seems to have chosen to tread cautiously, especially with the general elections knocking at the door. That's perhaps also the reason why the party has also kept its distance from the issue, despite the awareness that the controversy surrounds one of its most vocal and consistent performers in the House.
Speaking to PTI earlier this week, Moitra’s senior colleague in Parliament Derek O’Brien stated that since Moitra has already clarified her stand on allegations of bribe for questions raised, the party would now await the probe by the parliamentary ethics committee as the matter has to do with “her rights and privileges”.
While all Trinamul leaders from Bengal have remained – no surprises there – tight-lipped on the matter, the sole exception has been Calcutta Mayor and minister Firhad Hakim who stuck his neck out despite not being the party's designated spokesperson and expressed his solidarity with Moitra, calling the developments an attempt by the BJP to discredit her. “At a personal level, I believe that these are efforts to silence her so that she doesn't raise questions against the BJP government,” said Hakim on Monday.
That faint bit of support for Moitra is also likely to wane in the days ahead with the chief minister herself making her discomfiture about the issue apparent. Unless and until Moitra manages to convince the Ethics Committee and probe officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation, if and when the need for that arises.