Darshan Hiranandani, Dubai-based businessman and son of real estate tycoon Niranjan Hiranandani, has claimed he authored many of the questions relating to the Adani group that Mahua Moitra raised in the Lok Sabha, the explosive claim coming in the context of the cash-for-questions scandal that has engulfed the feisty Trinamul MP.

In a sworn affidavit that quickly went viral on social media, Hiranandani said Moitra had shared her email ID as a member of Parliament with him “so that I could send her information and she could raise the questions in parliament”. He added that Moitra “provided me her Parliament login and password so that I could post the questions directly on her behalf when required”.

Hiranandani said he had been a close friend of Moitra since 2017 after meeting her at the Bengal Global Business Summit. They drew closer because they shared “many views on the other side of the political spectrum/ ideological aisle” and possibly because of their mutual antipathy towards the Adani group.

“She was dominating by nature and assertive in temperament,” Hiranandani said.

After Moitra became MP in 2019, he often picked up the tab for her travels and holidays, and also “provided support” for the renovation of her “officially allotted bungalow in Delhi”.

He added that he had to fufil her demands “in order to remain in close proximity with her and get her support…. I could ill-afford to displease her.”

The businessman added: “Many a times I felt that she was taking undue advantage of me and pressurising me to do things I didn’t want to, but I had no choice.”

Moitra told CNN News18: “Modi has put a gun to his head and threatened to shut down his business. He has not been called by CBI or the (Lok Sabha) Ethics Committee. Why would he write this on his own?” Later in the night, she dismissed Hiranandani’s affidavit as a “joke”, arguing it was put on a plain paper and not a letterhead.

In a statement released late on Thursday night, Mahua said: “The contents of the letter are a joke. It has clearly been drafted by some half-wit in the PMO who doubles up as a creative writer in the BJP’s IT cell. It sings paeans to Modi and Gautam Adani while linking in every opponent of theirs to me and my alleged corruption. Shardul Shroff is the brother of Cyril Shroff who has had a bitter separation of business from him. Cyril Shroff is Gautam Adani’s “samdhi” and was on the SEBI’s committee in total conflict of interest…. Why has Darshan not done a press conference and read this out or tweeted it himself or his company put it out? If indeed he has “confessed” to this why is he not releasing it officially rather than through back channel leaks?……

"The draft of this letter was sent by the PMO and he was forced to sign it. And it was leaked to the press immediately. This is in return for the government not doing a CBI investigation or not aggressively attacking their businesses.

"Though tragic, it is totally understandable that Darshan (who is a dear friend) would need to think of what is at stake for him here - namely the continuation of his family businesses built up over decades and the fate of thousands of employees - and buckle under pressure and sign this. This is the usual modus operandi of this BJP government or rather Gautam Adani’s."

Hiranandani appeared to confirm many of the claims made in a letter that Jai Anant Dehadrai, a Supreme Court lawyer who was a close friend of Moitra at one time, had filed with the CBI a week ago.

Dehadrai’s letter had snowballed into a political scandal after BJP parliamentarian Nishikant Dubey wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla demanding an inquiry into the cash-for-questions allegations against Moitra and her suspension from Parliament.

Climbing the ladder

Hiranandani said Moitra had been “advised by her friends and advisors that the shortest possible route to fame is by personally attacking Modi”.

However, the Prime Minister enjoyed “an impeccable reputation and was not giving any opportunity to anyone to attack him in policy, governance or personal conduct”, he said.

That is when she allegedly decided to go after Gautam Adani, who has often been labelled as a crony capitalist of the Modi regime.

“She thought that the only way to attack Modi is by attacking Gautam Adani and his group as both were contemporaries and they belong to the same state of Gujarat,” the affidavit said.

Adani had his own detractors and Moitra “expected support from these sections in her endeavour to malign and embarrass the Prime Minister by targeting Adani”, Hiranandani said.

Moitra had sought him out because she was aware that he was miffed after losing out to Adani group company, Dhamra LNG, in a bid for a contract from the Indian Oil Corporation for the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification services.

Hiranandani said Moitra was “delighted at the response she received from the first set of questions that I had sent her relating to the Adani group”.

He added: “She told me that she was particularly happy with the response and support she got from the Opposition members and certain sections of media. She, therefore, requested me to keep supporting her in her attacks on the Adani group and provided me her Parliament login and password so that I could post the questions directly on her behalf when required.”

Darshan Hiranandani could not be reached for comment on the reasons for making the explosive affidavit.

After his affidavit became public, some of his past posts were no longer available on the micro-blogging site X (formerly Twitter).

Trinamul wary

A Trinamul source said the unfolding developments had proved that the party’s “wait and watch” policy on the controversy had been “a prudent one”.

“No one in the party spoke officially on the issue as Mahua has been contesting the charges on her own and issuing her statements after consulting legal experts,” a source said.

According to the source, the party’s stand was clear: “The charges were against an individual.... The party’s stand was, it would speak at an appropriate time.”

The Bengal government has not taken any major steps to fast-track Adani projects in the state — most notably, the deep-sea port in Tajpur (on which this year’s Bengal budget was completely silent) — after the Hindenburg report against the Adani group came to light in January.

However, no one in Trinamul has been as vocal against the Adani group as Mahua.

“The matter is being investigated by the (Lok Sabha) Ethics Committee.… Let the investigation be over,” a Trinamul source said when asked for an official comment on the issue.

While Mahua, MP from Krishnanagar in Nadia, has gained popularity across the country courtesy her interventions in Parliament since 2019, her position in her party has been wobbly. The Trinamul leadership believes that she has often breached the party line.