Mamata Banerjee was purportedly "most displeased" with a “public spat” among a woman Lok Sabha member from the TMC in south Bengal, Serampore MP Kalyan Banerjee and some other MPs, after screenshots from a WhatsApp group of the Trinamool Congress parliamentary party and videos were leaked and circulated widely on social media by BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya.
While this newspaper did not independently ascertain the veracity of the content on social media, Kalyan’s news meet on Tuesday left no doubt of their authenticity.
Sources in Trinamool said Mamata, apprised in detail of events by seniors in her parliamentary party, issued a warning to the woman MP of suspension if such a thing were to recur. Sources said Mamata found the WhatsApp group’s screenshots being leaked “alarming”. They added that Mamata’s nephew and heir apparent Abhishek Banerjee, also an MP, was equally displeased.
Gossip had been rife in the Trinamool ecosystem after the feud between the woman and Kalyan during their delegation’s visit last week to the Election Commission of India headquarters and in the WhatsApp group thereafter, BJP IT cell chief Malviya, also the party’s Bengal co-minder, set the cat among the pigeons with posts on X.
Mocking the MPs and the TMC through Tuesday with a bunch of posts, including cellphone videos taken by bystanders, Malviya, supported by the saffron ecosystem’s vast social media machinery, subjected the Trinamool camp to substantial humiliation over the incident.
“It all began with her attack on him at Nirvachan Sadan over why her name was not included by him among the signatories to the memorandum that was to be submitted to the commission. The heated exchanges, at Nirvachan Sadan and in the WhatsApp group thereafter, are now for all to see,” said a source.
At his news meet, Kalyan claimed he was the victim in this and accused the woman of misbehaviour, adding this was not her first “offence”.
He attacked Azad and Roy for taking her side.
A senior MP said that the woman MP, a thorn in the side of the Narendra Modi government since first getting elected to the Lok Sabha in 2019, had complained against Kalyan in writing to both Mamata and Abhishek.
“Not only her (the MP) but also the others who got involved in this (such as Bardhaman-Durgapur MP Kirti Azad and Dum Dum MP Saugata Roy) were asked to stop allowing any further escalation. KB (Kalyan) too was told not to talk to the media any further on this. What was found most unpleasant is how such a trivial matter was allowed such drastic escalation and drama in full public view,” said the source.
“This is not the first time she (the MP) picked an unnecessary fight within the party and humiliated colleagues over rather inconsequential things. Her threat at Nirvachan Sadan to have KB arrested by central forces in the presence of so many witnesses from outside the party was essentially a juvenile, schoolyard brawl that did not go down well with the supreme leadership,” the source added.
Roy defended the woman. Azad and the woman did not respond to calls from this newspaper.
