New Delhi: The Trinamool Congress found itself in a spot Monday after party MP Kalyan Banerjee announced his decision to step down as the chief whip in Lok Sabha and lashed out at his party colleagues for their absence from the House, “session after session”.
He announced his decision minutes after a meeting of the party’s Lok Sabha MPs chaired by West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, who joined it virtually from Kolkata.
He also expressed disappointment with the lack of action against party MP Mahua Moitra, with whom he had publicly clashed in April during the visit of a TMC delegation to the Election Commission of India. Since then, the two leaders have clashed several times, leaving the party red-faced.
At the meeting, Mamata also announced her decision to appoint nephew Abhishek Banerjee as the party’s leader in the Lok Sabha, replacing Sudip Bandopadhyay. Sources told ThePrint that she also expressed her displeasure with the performance of the TMC Lok Sabha contingent.
In the absence of Sudip, who has been unwell, it was Kalyan who was looking after the coordination of the TMC MPs in the Lok Sabha.
There were indications in the lead up to Monday’s meeting held at the party’s office on Rajendra Prasad Road that there may be mudslinging. Just as Kalyan was entering the meeting, he spotted Moitra ahead of him and bitterly remarked to the assembled reporters that “my day is ruined now”.
After the meeting, in which he announced his decision to resign, he came out and said, “Did not I tell you that this was going to be a bad day for me?” Later, he had an angry outburst while speaking to Kolkata-based television channels.
“She (Mamata) feels there is a lack of coordination in Lok Sabha, that’s why I resigned. But is she aware of the situation? Most party MPs never even show up. And it is supposed to be my fault? Sudip (Bandopadhyay) never comes. Kakoli (Ghosh Dastidar) drops by occasionally. Can you believe that the south Kolkata MP is always absent? Only around 11 of our 29 MPs attend the House,” Kalyan said.
He also expressed disappointment over the lack of disciplinary action against Moitra, alleging that she compared him to a “pig” and called him “sexually frustrated”. Earlier, he had also made personal remarks against Moitra, referring to her recent wedding with former BJD MP Pinaki Misra.
“Labeling a male colleague as ‘sexually frustrated’ isn’t boldness — it’s outright abuse. If such language were directed at a woman, there would be nationwide outrage, and rightly so. But when a man is the target, it’s dismissed or even applauded. Let’s be clear: abuse is abuse — regardless of gender. Such remarks are not just indecent, they reinforce a toxic double standard where men are expected to silently endure what would never be tolerated if roles were reversed.
“If Ms. Moitra thinks that flinging gutter insults will mask her own failures or distract from serious questions about her record, she is deluding herself. Those who rely on abuse instead of answers are not champions of democracy – they are its embarrassment, and the people of this country can see through that act,” he posted on X Monday.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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