Mahua Moitra could face action if she ignores party line: TMC sources

NEW DELHI: Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress has “not taken kindly” to party’s Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra’s move to “unfollow” her own party’s official twitter handle after TMC officially condemned her controversial remarks on goddess Kali and dissociated from it.
Firstly Moitra’s comments were unwarranted, as it could hurt sentiments of believers and that is completely against Mamata Banerjee’s party line, according to senior party leaders, and hence the party condemned the statement immediately after it was made.
Her actions that followed including “unfollowing” TMC’s official twitter handle after the party condemned her comments, is being viewed by the party as an “act of defiance, rather than accepting the condemnation,” said senior party sources while speaking to TOI.
TMC has not formally asked Moitra to explain or taken any disciplinary action against her so far. However, according to party insiders, the young Lok Sabha MP is under the “party’s watch” and is being given a “long rope.” But if she continues to go against the party line, there will have to be disciplinary action against her, the sources say.
Moitra’s remarks on Kali have come at a time when rival “BJP was on the backfoot” over its spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s comments on Prophet Muhammad. That dilutes TMC’s political attack on BJP, according to TMC insiders, adding that, this is not something that a political person can ignore.
In fact, a section of TMC leaders are not ready to give Moitra the benefit of doubt, on her controversial remarks being a mistake and are trying to see a pattern in her moves.
Many feel she has been cut up with the party leadership for being removed from the party’s presidentship of Nadia district, last year. That Mamata Banerjee publicly reprimanded Moitra from the dais last December for infighting in the Nadia district organisation, may have played a role in her recent outburst.
TMC leadership has also noted that Moitra was recently in London with Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi for a programme organised by Sam Pitroda and that even on Wednesday she was defending her Kali remarks and being supported by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor among others, on the social media.
Hence TMC is waiting for Moitra’s next move to see whether it can bury the hatchet or serve her a show-cause notice.