Trinamul Congress leader Mahua Moitra jeered at the Narendra Modi government over a money-laundering charge brought against her by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), implying that the alleged hounding by central probe agencies would end if she joined the BJP.

“Khule hai BJP ke Dwaar / Aa Jao Nahi Toh / Abh ke Baar – Tihar (The BJP’s doors are ajar / Get over here or else / This time – Tihar)!” posted Moitra on X on Wednesday morning.

It came to light on Tuesday that the ED had filed a money-laundering case against the Trinamul leader and businessman Darshan Hiranandani in the "gifts-for-queries" case against her. The central agency filed an enforcement case information report (ECIR) — akin to an FIR — against Moitra and Hiranandani, taking cognisance of a CBI complaint.

On Tuesday night, when asked about the case, Moitra, who had been expelled from the Lok Sabha, said: “The way we have frontal organisations of women, students, youth… the BJP has the CBI, the ED, and the NIA.”

“They do these things daily, without such things, they cannot digest their meals. To them, filing cases after waking up is a ritual, like our morning prayers,” she added. “It really does not matter at all.”

Trinamul has fielded Moitra in the Krishnanagar Lok Sabha segment again.

The ED has been conducting the probe against Moitra and Hiranandani under civil sections of the Foreign Exchange Management Act and had called them both to appear for questioning, but neither has done so yet.

Last month, the CBI had conducted searches, after filing its FIR, on Moitra’s Calcutta and Krishnanagar premises.

Later on Wednesday, Moitra posted on X a screenshot of a textual conversation with her mother on WhatsApp.

“Keep a power of attorney ready in my name. In case they pick you up I will file the nomination,” her mother’s text read.

“My mother’s answer to BJP’s daily ED/CBI lovefest. You rock Mummy - the original Sherni!” wrote Moitra along with the screenshot.

The BJP scoffed at Moitra’s statements.

“See, what she has done, she knows very well…. Moitra compromised the nation’s internal security, it is a very serious charge. If she needs to be investigated for that, she will be. The whole nation will support it,” said the BJP’s chief spokesperson for Bengal, Samik Bhattacharya.

“But it’s unfortunate that Moitra, having realised, has been having nightmares of incarceration in Tihar. Every moment, awake or asleep, the fear of Tihar has been hounding her. That is why she has been issuing such statements,” added the Rajya Sabha member. “Such statements have nothing to do with the BJP. They are entirely about her actions, her sins, her crimes.”