Trinamool Congress MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar has sought Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s permission to file a formal complaint against party colleague Kalyan Banerjee, accusing him of misogyny and repeated verbal abuse.
In a letter to Birla, she alleged that Banerjee had “repeatedly verbally abused” her inside the Lok Sabha chamber. She further wrote that “this misogyny has been against many lady members and needs to be punished.”
The move marks a fresh escalation in the growing rift within the Trinamool Congress.
A day earlier, Ghosh Dastidar resigned as chief of the party’s women’s wing. In her resignation letter, she said the party had failed to protect her from the abuse of a fellow MP, indirectly referring to Banerjee.
Banerjee had also replaced her as the Trinamool Congress chief whip in the Lok Sabha.
While Ghosh Dastidar has increasingly distanced herself from the party by stepping down from key organisational positions, her complaint against Banerjee has opened a new front in the internal turmoil within the embattled Trinamool Congress.
Accusing a fellow party MP of misogyny and repeated verbal abuse is considered rare in Lok Sabha proceedings, and the formal nature of the complaint has added seriousness to the matter.
{{/usCountry}}Accusing a fellow party MP of misogyny and repeated verbal abuse is considered rare in Lok Sabha proceedings, and the formal nature of the complaint has added seriousness to the matter.
{{/usCountry}}With a senior woman MP lodging an official complaint against another parliamentarian, Birla is expected to examine the issue with sensitivity.
Politically, the development further isolates Ghosh Dastidar from the Trinamool Congress at a time when the party is witnessing a series of resignations by grassroots-level leaders.
On Wednesday, Banerjee hit back at Ghosh Dastidar, reminding the media about her alleged acceptance of ₹5 lakh in the Narada sting operation and accusing her of backing illegal syndicates involved in the supply of raw materials in Kolkata.