Mamata Banerjee on Thursday accused the BJP of “planning the expulsion” of Mahua Moitra from Parliament and said this would end up boosting the popularity and electoral prospects of the Trinamul MP, one of the Adani group’s fiercest critics.

This was Mamata’s first public endorsement of the Krishnanagar MP, embroiled in a cash-for-query controversy. Sources said the comment would go a long way in clarifying the Trinamul chief’s attitude towards the Adani group and bring her closer to the Congress in an election year.

“Their plan is to remove Mahua Moitra (from Parliament).... But this will help her become more popular before the elections,” the Bengal chief minister said while addressing a party meeting at Netaji Indoor Stadium. “What she used to say inside (Parliament), now she will say outside.”

Moitra’s performance in the Lok Sabha, where she relentlessly flayed the Adani group and its alleged proximity to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, got shrouded in controversy after BJP member Nishikant Dubey forwarded to Speaker Om Birla a cash-for-query complaint against her by lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai.

The Lok Sabha’s Ethics Committee, which looked into the allegations, recommended Moitra’s expulsion from the House and an investigation against her.

Trinamul’s top leadership — Mamata and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee — had maintained a studied silence during the initial stages of the controversy, with party spokespersons such as Derek O’Brien saying it was up to the MP herself to contest the charges.

This had triggered speculation whether Moitra enjoyed the backing of the party brass and prompted CPM and Congress leaders to ask tauntingly whether Trinamul planned to sacrifice the MP as part of a deal with Modi and Adani.

These theories received a jolt on November 10 when Abhishek questioned the ethics panel’s rationale in recommending Moitra’s expulsion.

Within four days, the feisty Moitra received a further shot in the arm when she was appointed Trinamul district president for Krishnanagar in Nadia as part of an organisational shuffle.

The audience at the Netaji Indoor Stadium on Thursday. Picture by Pradip Sanyal.

“Still, there was some confusion in the party as Didi had not said anything. Today, Didi made it clear that she is with Mahua,” a source in Trinamul said.

“This will not only empower her in her battle against the ethics committee but also help her handle party affairs better in the faction-ridden Nadia district.”

Mamata’s comments also cleared any confusion over Trinamul’s stand on the Adani group, on which Bengal had been betting big because of the conglomerate’s business interests in the state.

During the state’s recent annual business summit, the chief minister had dropped the first hint that her government was distancing itself from the group when she announced that a global tender would be floated for the proposed Tajpur port.

The statement created a flutter in political and business circles as her government had given a letter of award (LoA) to the Adani group more than a year ago for the project, which was to bring in investment worth over Rs 25,000 crore.

A Trinamul source said Mamata’s comments in support of Moitra -- who has vowed to continue her fight against the Adani group -- contained a politically important message.

“Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, she doesn’t want to have anything to do with the Adani group.... By taking this stand, she also gets much closer to the Congress, the main constituent of the INDIA grouping,” the source said.

The Adani group has been battling allegations ranging from accounting shenanigans and stock price manipulation to the over-invoicing of coal imports.