TMC woman MP accuses Kalyan Banerjee of verbal abuse, misogyny; writes to LS speaker

Trinamool Congress MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar has accused party colleague Kalyan Banerjee of verbally abusing her inside Parliament and expressing misogynistic behaviour towards women parliamentarians. She wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking permission to formally register a complaint against Banerjee.

In her letter to the Speaker, which comes amid deepening faultlines within the TMC, she wrote, "I seek your permission to lodge a formal complaint to you for redressal against Lok Sabha Member of AITC Kalyan Banerjee, who has repeatedly verbally abused me inside the Lok Sabha. This misogyny has been against many lady members and needs to be punished."

The woman MP has demanded action against Kalyan Banerjee.

Neither Banerjee nor the TMC leadership immediately reacted to the complaint.

This comes shortly after the four-term Barasat MP quit all organisational posts in the TMC and launched a stinging political diatribe against sections of the party leadership.

She, however, continues to be an MP of Barasat, which she won on a TMC ticket.

Her resignation from party positions came a day after she attended Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari's administrative review meeting in Kalyani, defying the party's instruction to abstain.

Kalyan Banerjee, the four-time MP from Sreerampur and one of the party's most combative parliamentarians, has frequently courted controversy over his remarks and confrontations with political opponents as well as colleagues.

(With PTI inputs)