Kolkata: Reacting strongly to the purported leaked chats of the Trinamool Congress MPs' WhatsApp group by the BJP, party MP Sougata Roy said, "I feel it is beneath my dignity to reply to what Kalyan Banerjee has said".
Launching a scathing attack against his own party leader, Roy further said, "His uncivilised behaviour has been in our view several times. He called Jyotiraditya Scindia 'lady killer' and later went and apologised to him. During the JPC meeting on Waqf, he broke a bottle and threw it at the chairman of the Waqf committee".
"Kalyan is known for his intemperate and uncivilised behaviour. So far, I have not been speaking about it because it's my dignity, I heard from you that he has said things against me, that's why I have replied," he added about the internal storm that has been brought to the CM Mamata-led party.
Remove Kalyan Banerjee as Chief Whip Of TMC: Roy
He further said,"I feel Kalyan should be removed from the Chief Whip position of the Party immediately, but I leave it to Mamata Banerjee's judgement... Now that it has come out well, the party leadership will take action."
Malviya had shared purported chats of TMC MPs Kalyan Banerjee and Kirti Azad sparring in the party’s official WhatsApp group for parliamentarians.
Sharing the chats, Malviya claimed that the heated WhatsApp exchange was a fallout of an earlier public spat between the two MPs at the Election Commission headquarters.
On Friday, TMC MPs visited the ECI and demanded answers on why it was pushing for Aadhaar-EPIC linkage without first addressing glaring fraud in voter identities.
A video purportedly showing a heated altercation between the two TMC MPs at the EC was also shared by Malviya. The footage captures TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee engaged in an intense verbal exchange with another TMC MP.
"On 4th April 2024, two TMC MPs had a public spat at the headquarters of the Election Commission of India, where they had gone to submit a representation. It appears the party had instructed its MPs to gather at the Parliament office to sign the memorandum before proceeding to the EC. However, the MP carrying the memorandum skipped the Parliament meeting and went directly to the EC,” Malviya's caption read.
He further said, “This angered another MP, who confronted him when they came face to face at the Commission. A heated exchange followed, with the two shouting at each other — so much so that one of them asked the police personnel present to intervene.”
“The matter escalated quickly and reached Mamata Banerjee, who reportedly asked both MPs to stand down. But the feud didn’t end there. It spilled over into the ‘AITC MP 2024’ WhatsApp group, where warring camps took sides and traded barbs. And in the middle of it all, the question still lingers: who exactly is the ‘versatile international lady’? That mystery is one for the world to unravel,” he added.
How It All Started
Reportedly, a delegation of MPs had visted the ECI last week, but arguments started after one popular woman leader known for her fiery speeches found that her name was missing in the memorandum. While she was advised by her senior colleague to write down her name, another senior Lok Sabha MP passed a sarcastic remark, triggering an altercation.
The woman MP then allegedly asked CISF jawans who were on duty in the EC office to arrest her collegue. The senior MP then lashed out at the woman MP, despite other MPs trying to calm him down.
The woman MP then wrote to party chief Mamata Banerjee and left the WhatsApp group. A copy of the complaint was also reportedly sent to party's general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
