Politically in a spot over allegations in the PDS scam, Trinamul on Friday threw its weight behind former food (and current forest) minister Jyoti Priya Mallick, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate early in the morning, taking the cue from chief minister Mamata Banerjee and accusing the BJP-led Centre of a witch-hunt against Bengal’s ruling party.

The party endorsed the brief media statement made by Mallick — who collapsed in court during the day — in which he claimed to be the victim of a “gobheer chokranto (deep conspiracy)” by the BJP and the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari.

The ED, which is probing the money trail in connection with suspected irregularities in the public distribution system (PDS) in Bengal, arrested Mallick around 3.20am from his Salt Lake home after having questioned him for nearly 20 hours.

The 65-year-old Mallick — who was food and supplies minister for a decade from 2011 — collapsed at the Bankshall court, where he was produced in the afternoon. Tanumoy Karmakar, the metropolitan magistrate, remanded him in 10 days’ ED custody.

Mallick was rushed to a private hospital and admitted with an “initial diagnosis of hyperglycaemia, renal impairment, dyselectrolytaemia and pre-syncope... and hypertension”, but was stable. The court had earlier directed that if he had to be hospitalised, the period of admission would be excluded from the period of custody granted to the ED.

Mamata had on Thursday warned the BJP and the ED with FIRs if the ailing Mallick died on account of their “harassment”.

On Friday, the chief minister did not issue any statement on the subject.

Trinamul was unwavering in airing the conspiracy theory floated by Mamata the day before.

“It is yet another attempt by the BJP to stop the Opposition from raising the real, pro-people issues,” commerce and industry minister Shashi Panja said at a media conference on behalf of the party.

“The pertinent question is, why BJP leaders and turncoats mired in corruption are never even summoned by the ED or the CBI.”

Panja added: “The weak and cowardly BJP has engaged in this politically motivated witch-hunt against a fiercely resistant Opposition party ahead of elections… weaponising the ED and the CBI. They are doing this to try and weaken us in the crucial district of North 24-Paraganas.”

Trinamul’s staunch support for its Habra MLA stands in contrast with its response to the arrests of three party MLAs by central probe agencies since July last year over recruitments to schools.

The party had remained largely indifferent to the arrests of Palashipara MLA Manik Bhattacharya (in October last year) and Burdwan MLA Jiban Krishna Saha (in April this year). It had gone out of its way to disown Behala East MLA Partha Chatterjee, arrested in July last year, who was not only the industry minister but also the party’s secretary-general.

The different treatment of Mallick, party sources said, owed to the stellar political service he had provided Mamata with down the years.

It’s well known that the Trinamul chairperson is extremely fond of Mallick, whom she affectionately calls “Balu”, although her nephew Abhishek Banerjee is believed not to share the sentiment.

Mallick had handled the key district of North 24-Parganas almost single-handedly for years until Abhishek divided the organisational responsibilities among members of a team made largely of his loyalists.

Mallick’s importance was rooted in his ability to handle the politically volatile North 24-Parganas — India’s second-most populous district — which has five Lok Sabha seats and 33 Assembly constituencies.

“In 2019, around the time of the Lok Sabha elections in which the BJP performed spectacularly in the state, we were in very real danger of losing control of many of the 27 civic bodies in the district, following a deluge of defections,” a senior MP said.

“So, jitters had set in... But he, with the help of a team of seniors, achieved spectacular success in reversing most of those defections in a matter of weeks,” the MP added.

The BJP won only 5 of the 33 Assembly seats in 2021, having led from 11 in 2019.

However, several Trinamul insiders admitted to fears of an electoral backlash from this latest blow.

“Cattle-rustling or coal pilferage or cash-for-jobs in civic bodies do not really affect the masses directly. Irregular school recruitments affect a few thousand,” a Trinamul source said.

“But the PDS directly impacts the daily lives of the vast majority. This issue does have the potential to generate genuine popular anger.”