Kolkata: Trinamool Congress is in a catch-22 situation over allegations of bribery against MP Mahua Moitra by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who filed a complaint against her to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
Moitra, otherwise a flamboyant speaker and known for her fiery way of raising issues to corner the BJP government in various issues, has been a mainstay of Trinamool Congress's 'attack brigade' in the Parliament. It is despite the fact that her relationship with Chief Minister is learnt to have soured in recent times.
Also read: Mahua Moitra bribery charge: Nishikant Dubey asked to appear before Lok Sabha Ethics Committee on Oct 26
Dubey has accused Moitra of taking 'bribes' from a businessman to ask questions in Parliament and urged Speaker Om Birla to constitute an 'inquiry committee' to look into the charges against her.
Citing a letter he has received from the advocate, Dubey said the lawyer has shared 'irrefutable' evidence of bribes exchanged between the TMC leader and a businessman. In his letter to the Lok Sabha speaker, Dubey claimed 50 of 61 questions she asked in Lok Sabha till recently were focused on the Adani Group, the business conglomerate which the TMC MP has often accused of malpractices, more so after it was at the receiving end of a critical report of short-selling from Hindenburg.
In her plea in the Calcutta High Court, Moitra on Tuesday denied the allegations and claimed that they were designed to damage her reputation in relation to the false allegations made by Dubey and Dehadrai against her for alleged exchange of bribe for asking questions in Parliament. She has sought direction to the defendants to remove or take down all the alleged defamatory and scurrilous content, including posts, tweets, re-tweets, captions, posted on their respective platforms against her.
The ethics committee is set to hear BJP MP Nishikant Dube's speech on October 26 to probe into the allegations. The Ethics Committee will now also speak to the main complainant, Jai Anant Dehdarai.
Now, the Trinamool Congress is in a spot to bother over the allegation and remains tight-lipped over Mahua. Even though there is already a lot of talk about the issue across the political spectrum, no leader of the ruling party is yet to shed light on the matter. When approached, Trinamool Congress MP and spokesperson Santanu Sen ducked the query saying the party does not want to comment on Mahua at this hour.
The party mandarins are monitoring the situation and will respond in the right nick of time, he said. It is clear that the state's ruling party Trinamool Congress has adopted a wait-and-watch policy.
Although they do not want to comment on this publicly, many leaders of the ruling party are talking about the issue in a close circle. In one such discussion off the record on Wednesday, a top party leader said party supremo Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress All India General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee are 'worried' monitoring the situation.
The Trinamool Congress has always said the party maintains a 'zero-tolerance policy' on corruption. The party has taken action against ministers and the former general secretary of the party Partha Chatterjee when he allegedly got involved in a big corruption net.
The party will give the right response at the right time. Sen said that since the matter has gone to the Ethics Committee of the Parliament, the party can only say something after the report of the Ethics Committee comes out.
Another source in Trinamool Congress, which is on the backfoot over the allegation, said the party may weigh the option of being strict on her if she is found guilty.
