In an interview, Mahua Moitra recently spoke about the rebellion in TMC and said that she respects renegade Suvendu Adhikari for leaving the party in clear terms.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra, among the party’s few elected leaders to support former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee amid a revolt by MPs and MLAs, has spoken out against what she called “sensational bits” taken from her recent media interviews for misquoting and “grabbing attention”.
Mahua Moitra spoke about the rebellion by party TMC MLAs and MPs in a recent interview with BBC and said she respects renegade Suvendu Adhikari, while reiterating her strong support for Mamata Banerjee.
Responding to questions about Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee being mentioned as the main problem by rebel MPs and MLAs, Mahua Moitra said she respects Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari for leaving the TMC on clear terms.
Moitra, who represents Krishnanagar Lok Sabha constituency, also mentioned how she remains close to Suvendu Adhikari, and recalled the moment in 2014 when he consoled her after she broke down over not getting a Lok Sabha ticket.
“The problem with Suvendu Adhikari was basically the same. Mamata Banerjee made Abhishek Banerjee the party’s second-in-command. Suvendu understood that as long as Abhishek Banerjee was there, control of the party would never come to him,” Mahua Moitra said in two interviews with the BBC in Hindi and Bengali, which she later indicated through a post on
“he [Suvendu Adhikari] I felt: “This is my right, my entitlement.” “I am a party man.” But he also understood that this would not happen as long as Abhishek was around. So he decided to join the BJP. He made this position very clear. There is an advantage to this; There is something to be respected in this approach. “He went away and fought his political battle for five years,” Moitra said, questioning why the rebels were silent about the problems with the Diamond Harbor MP when the TMC was winning in West Bengal.
“Let me say it clearly. Every one of these people who are making these allegations today contested the elections just a month or a month and a half ago. They all fought for the symbol of the Trinamool Congress. Abhishek Banerjee has not been appointed national general secretary of the party today; he held the same position in 2021 as well. The party won the 2021 elections under his leadership,” Mahua said in the interviews.
“Suvendu Adhikari also worked alongside Abhishek’s leadership before quitting the party and joining the BJP. So all these leaders who are rebelling today – why didn’t they say then that they disagreed with Abhishek’s style of working or that the party had become disconnected from the people? Why didn’t they refuse to contest the party symbol and instead joined another party? They didn’t say any of that then. At that time, they wanted tickets, posts and opportunities. That’s why I appeal to their hypocrisy,” she added.
Mahua Moitra said that there is always room within the party to discuss differences with Mamata Banerjee or Abhishek Banerjee, adding that there is room for dissent. “I myself ran in the 2024 elections without involving I-PAC. So the problem was never that there was no space for discussion within the party,” she said, referring to issues with the political consulting firm mentioned by rebel leaders.
“If someone doesn’t like the way things are being done, he is free to leave. But you cannot win elections using the faces and popularity of Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee and then turn around and attack them,” Mahua Moitra said.
Mahua Moitra recalls his close relations with Suvendu Adhikari
Asked who among those who have left the party was particularly surprised by her departure, Mahua Moitra said that she is a passionate politician who considers the party like a family, and went on to describe Sayoni Ghosh’s joining the rebel camp as the biggest shock.
“Maybe in a year, when I am older and more experienced, nothing will surprise me anymore. But for now, some things still surprise me. I am an emotional person. Rakesh is not an emotional politician. Old-school politicians used to say people come and go. But I am still a very emotional politician,” Mahua Moitra said.
“For me, emotional relationships are important. I consider the party a family. I still do. And when you do politics with someone 24/7, personal bonds are formed,” she said.
She said even today she has a personal relationship with Suvendu Adhikari. “He was a very good friend of mine, and when we were in the same party, he supported me a lot. When I first contested from Karimpur, no one came to campaign on my behalf. Hardly anyone came to the rallies. Suvendu gave a speech at one of my first rallies. I still have all the pictures. Suvendu and I were sitting there. I needed flags and campaign materials; Suvendu helped me,” recalls Mahua Moitra.
“In 2014, there was a time when I thought I might get a Lok Sabha ticket, but I didn’t. I cried all night. Suvendu told me: ‘Don’t cry, sister. “We are with you.”
“These are emotional connections,” she said. “Just because someone leaves does not mean those memories disappear. We may not talk now because we belong to different political parties, but personal and emotional connections are not something that can simply be forgotten.”
Mahua Moitra said that Sayoni Ghosh, MP from Jadavpur, was personally one of the people closest to her, adding that what she got from the TMC was well deserved.
“And I truly believe that whatever she received from the party, she got it because she deserved it. I’m not saying she didn’t deserve it. She was capable and deserving, and that’s exactly why she was given opportunities,” Mahua Moitra said.
“Look at her journey. She joined the party in February 2021. By March or April, the party had given her a ticket. She fought very well in that constituency and lost by only about 4,000 votes. So, if she now chooses to leave, the explanation for that decision should come from her, not from me,” Moitra added.
The transitional military council crisis
Mamata Banerjee is facing a massive insurgency crisis in the party since she lost the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly elections to the BJP. The Assembly’s first president, Rathendra Nath Bose, on June 3, recognized as many as 58 rebel TMC legislators as the main opposition party in the House. Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandiban Saha, who were expelled by the Mamata-led TMC on June 1, became leader and deputy leader of the opposition, respectively. This development happened 29 days after the BJP won 207 seats against the TMC’s 80 seats.
Days later, another rebel faction – including 20 MPs – emerged from the TMC, adding to the woes of Mamata Banerjee, who had by this time abandoned most of the party’s elected leaders and left only a few legislators alongside her, including Mahua Moitra, Kalyan Banerjee and Derek O’Brien.
The team of MPs led by Kakoli Ghosh and comprising several TMC heavyweights like Saayoni Ghosh, Yusuf Pathan, Rachna Banerjee etc., proposed a merger with a lesser-known Tripura-based party NCPI to support the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in Parliament. If the merger is approved by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, the NDA’s strength in the Lok Sabha will rise from 294 to 314 seats, 46 seats short of the two-thirds majority mark. In the Rajya Sabha, the ruling alliance can reach 155 seats, only eight seats short of the two-thirds threshold.
