Kolkata: Stoked by veteran Trinamool MP Sougata Ray‘s “he should be removed as (party’s Lok Sabha) chief whip and none (in the party) likes him” comment and his WhatsApp texts in a closed group being gleefully shared by Bengal BJP, TMC MP and senior lawyer Kalyan Banerjee launched an unprecedented fusillade against a party MP, whom he did not name. In subsequent attacks, Banerjee did not spare Ray, and Kirti Azad, also a TMC MP.
In a no-holds-barred attack, Banerjee questioned how a woman MP could ask BSF personnel at Nirvachan Sadan “to arrest him” and refer to him as a “chhotolok”. Banerjee also referred to Ray’s role in the Narada sting tapes and hit out at Azad for “advocating for a sweet shop”. Banerjee said he had complained to the “top leadership”.
The issue referred to the April 4 deputation by TMC MPs to EC on the duplicate EPIC issue. Party MP
Mahua Moitra, who was to be part of the delegation, arrived there to find her name missing from the list of signatories.
Banerjee claimed he did “only as instructed” and said he asked Moitra not to make it an issue. “She shouted at me, and so did I,” he said.
“The allegations that I denigrated her (as a woman) and abused her are false. There can be heated arguments among colleagues too, that is not the issue, but she asked the BSF (posted at EC) to arrest me. How can she say that? I am in politics for 40 years. I have all along fought against CPM, Congress and now BJP. She only speaks of Adani-Modi and not against a single BJP leader. I protested that strongly, and yes, I spoke loudly,” Banerjee said.
Moitra, in Nadia, couldn’t be reached for comment. Since the controversy, she has not spoken about it in public.
On April 4, Banerjee apparently wrote about this in a closed WhatsApp group that only TMC MPs have access to. On Tuesday BJP’s IT cell head Amit Malviya, and later Bengal BJP, shared on X WhatsApp screenshots and videos on the incident.
The videos showed Banerjee shouting at his colleagues while entering the EC office as party netas tried to calm him down. In the WA chats, Banerjee was seen having a tiff with Azad with the former referring to an unknown “versatile international lady.”
In the purported group chats, Banerjee had posted a message saying he had reached Kolkata.
Then he added, “Send your BSF and Delhi Police to arrest me. Your home ministry connection is very strong international great lady.”
If this was the first trigger for Banerjee’s outburst, the second was Ray when he confirmed the BJP allegations. Ray told reporters Banerjee should be removed from the post of the chief whip of TMC in Lok Sabha. “But I leave it to (Trinamool supremo) Mamata Banerjee’s judgment. That Kalyan is not fit to be in the post is apparent to me. I have not said it so far, but because of his behaviour and his incorrect English… I think the time has arrived to see into it,” Ray said.
Banerjee was belligerent in his attack on Ray, referring to the fact that he had accepted Narada cash and questioned his integrity.
