Mamata Shields Fiery MP Mahua Moitra Amid 'Cash-for-Query' Controversy

While the 17th Lok Sabha is likely preparing to take action against Mahua Moitra, the MP from Trinamul, chief minister Mamata Banerjee is ensuring her future.

As part of a bigger organizational overhaul on Monday, Mamata appointed her district's Trinamul president for Krishnagar, perhaps signalling that she supported her fiery and troublesome MP.

Last Monday, the Lok Sabha's ethics committee recommended Moitra's removal for "unethical conduct" and "contempt of the House."

Keeping in mind the general election of the following year, the party high leadership made a number of adjustments to its district units. However, all the emphasis was focused on Moitra's elevation.

After the cash-for-query story surfaced last month, the Trinamul senior brass, including Mamata and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, the party's all-India general secretary, first kept a resounding quiet.

However, Abhishek came out in favor of Moitra last Thursday, tying her opposition to the Narendra Modi administration to the recommendations made by the House panel.

Moitra took to social media on Monday to thank the party leadership for their consecutive public displays of support.

"Thank you for designating me as the District President of Krishnanagar (Nadia North) by @MamataOfficial and @AITCofficial." Willingly collaborate with the party for the sake of the Krishnanagar community," she said on her X account.

According to sources close to Moitra, the increased responsibility inside the organization supports her assertion that the party leadership supports her. Others in the party, however, voiced astonishment at the choice and cited her "not so impressive" organizational background.

After receiving complaints, Moitra was dismissed from her position as president of the Nadia unit in 2021, at which time numerous districts were divided into organizational zones. Her tenure as president lasted 13 months. Krishnanagar, also known as "Nadia North," is currently a "organizational district" under the Trinamul model.

A source in the party's Nadia unit said, "She may be a good parliamentarian but she has always been unapproachable," and that the announcement of her most recent promotion had angered a significant portion of the party.

The insider said, "Our top leaders are fully aware that she promoted factionalism during her earlier tenure as president, which damaged the party organization."

"The demographics of the Krishnagar Lok Sabha seat are favorable to us: three Assembly segments—Nakashipara, Palashipara, and Chapra—have very large proportions of minority votes. Therefore, our leaders are also aware that her alleged charisma has no bearing on the result of the election in the seat.

The departing president and Nakashipara MLA, Kallol Khan, encapsulated the overall sentiment inside the Krishnagar district unit when he revealed that the leadership had previously been notified of many grievances about Moitra's operations.

But the party made that choice. She must have been appointed president for a valid cause by the leadership. I'm at a loss for words, Khan told The Telegraph.

According to a party source in Calcutta, the leadership was aware of these sentiments in Nadia, but it wasn't immediately concerned about them.

The insider said, "Everyone knows that Moitra has turned into a target due to her constant tirade. She has been leading a fierce protest against the Prime Minister and his cronies."

"The matter involves the wider perception about Trinamul, so the party has to signal that it is behind her."

The Trinamul argument that Moitra would handle the accusations on her own had been undermined by two of the state's major opposition parties, the Congress and the CPM, who linked it to "a secret setting" between the governing parties in Bengal and at the Center.

The insider said that Mamata had once again shown her immaculate sense of timing and that it would be impossible for them to make such accusations at this point.

According to a second source, Moitra's organizational job may have been designed with the distant possibility—albeit little chance—that she won't be allowed to run in the next Lok Sabha election if the fallout from the cash-for-query claims intensifies.