The Trinamul Congress’s strategy to mitigate the Partha Chatterjee crisis has become clearer with the party increasingly distancing itself — at least in public — from the allegations against its secretary-general and the Number Two in the Mamata Banerjee cabinet on the one hand and countering what the Opposition throws at it with belligerence on the other.

A day after Trinamul said in its official statement that it would await the judicial outcome in the investigation and take action against him if found guilty, the party’s spokesperson said it would not waste time if the court accepted evidence furnished by the Enforcement Directorate.

“There is a key difference here. The judicial outcome could take years. The court-accepted evidence could be a matter of months, or even weeks. The party, today, also demanded that the investigation be time-bound. That is, quite clearly, bringing the deadline forward for action — if needed — against Partha,” said a senior in Trinamul.

“One, perhaps, ought to interpret this as the party’s hardening of stand, or distancing itself further from one of its senior-most leaders and ministers,” he added.

“We demand a time-bound inquiry in the Partha Chatterjee case because we have seen the CBI-ED investigation in many cases go on for too long. This gives an advantage to the Opposition that creates a distorted campaign around it,” Trinamul state general-secretary Kunal Ghosh told a news conference on Sunday. Ghosh was part of a meeting convened by Trinamul Number Two Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday to decide the party’s public stand on the issue.

“Trinamul will not support anything wrong. If the investigating agency submits any kind of proof to the court and the court acknowledges those facts, then the party will not waste a second to announce the next step,” he added.

Ghosh also reacted aggressively to various graft accusations from the BJP and the CPM, demanding answers on various past allegations against both the parties that remain unresolved.

“This will now be par for the course. We cannot be seen as taking what they dish out, lying down. We will counterattack,” said a Trinamul Rajya Sabha member.

Sources said chief minister Mamata Banerjee was in favour of watching and waiting for a decisive outcome before taking a definite stand on Chatterjee, one of her oldest aides.

“But she is not pleased, obviously. More so because he (Chatterjee) enabled the ED to mention her name and phone number in its arrest memo, by trying to get in touch with her while he was getting arrested. She is also surprised at his name being dragged into this over his association with two women,” said a source.

Sources in Trinamul also admitted to the Chatterjee development having delivered a degree of satisfaction to sections, especially those owing allegiance to Abhishek, which hoped there would be a “much-needed” restructuring in the leadership of the party and the state government. The frosty relationship between Chatterjee and Abhishek has been one of Trinamul’s worst-kept secrets, over the years.

“Partha had been a key leader in our so-called old guard that Team Abhishek has been trying to phase out of positions of major clout in the party since, at least, 2016. This winter, Partha led from the front in that showdown over civic poll candidates, between the old and the new, against the Prashant Kishor-Abhishek camp. Back then, Partha had the last laugh. But fortune is fickle,” said a source.

“If Partha does get dropped at some point — unlikely as that is — over this, it would not be a heartening sign for others from the old guard in positions of influence,” he added.