Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar to replace Kalyan Banerjee as TMC's chief whip in Lok Sabha

New Delhi: A day after choosing Abhishek Banerjee as its Lok Sabha leader, Trinamool Congress on Tuesday named Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar as its Chief Whip in place of Kalyan Banerjee, who submitted his resignation, and Satabdi Roy as Deputy Leader in the Lower House.

The restructuring of the Trinamool Parliamentary leadership by its chief Mamata Banerjee came amid her dissatisfaction with the party's performance in Lok Sabha following the absence of senior MPs Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Saugata Roy, who are facing health problems.

With the latest appointments, women MPs occupy three of the six Parliamentary leadership posts. The third woman in the leadership is Sagarika Ghose, who is the Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha. Derek O'Brien continues to be the Rajya Sabha floor leader while Nadimul Haque is the Chief Whip.

At a virtual meeting with MPs on Monday evening, Mamata had announced Abhishek as the Lok Sabha leader in place of Bandyopadhyay "till he recovers" while maintaining that Kakoli as Deputy Leader and Banerjee as Chief would continue despite she expressing displeasure about "2-3 MPs" creating problems. She did not name any MPs but she was apparently referring to the spat between Kalyan and Mahua Moitra.

Soon after the meeting, Kalyan submitted his resignation but Abhishek called him and told him that he would be in Delhi on August 7 and sort out issues. However on Tuesday, Mamata decided to accept Kalyan's resignation and bring in Satabdi Roy as Deputy Leader and shift Kakoli to the crucial post of Chief Whip.

"Kalyan Banerjee submitted his resignation yesterday (Monday) to the Chairperson (Mamata) from the post of Chief Whip of the Trinamool Congress Parliamentary Party in the Lok Sabha. The Chairperson has accepted his resignation and thank him for his contributions in that role," the party said on 'X'.

"In consultation with senior parliamentarians, the Chairperson has nominated Dr. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar as the new Chief Whip of the @AITCofficial in the Lok Sabha and Satabdi Roy as the new Deputy Leader of the AITC in the Lok Sabha with immediate effect," it added.

Bandyopadhyay has not attended the ongoing Monsoon Session and the ascension of Abhishek comes months ahead of West Bengal Assembly elections. While the decision makes it clear that Abhishek will concentrate on Delhi, his prominence in the party has been sealed amid the old guard raising concerns about his possible future role.

On Monday, Kalyan claimed that he quit because he was being blamed unfairly for lack of coordination among MPs. He also said he was deeply hurt by the party's silence over "insults" hurled at him by Mahua. He also posted on 'X' claiming that Mahua used "dehumanising language" against him.

"Mamata-di says Lok Sabha MPs are fighting and quarrelling. Should I tolerate those who abuse me? I informed the party, but instead of taking action against the person who insulted me, they are blaming me. Let Mamata Banerjee run the party the way she sees fit," he had told reporters.