TMC's Kalyan Banerjee rejects Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar's 'misogyny' charge, calls it 'motivated'

Kolkata:

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Kalyan Banerjee on Thursday swiftly rejected the allegations levelled by party leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who has accused him of "verbally abusing" him inside the Lok Sabha.

Banerjee alleged that Dastidar is "acting with a motive", which raises doubts. He further pointed out that according to the rule, Dastidar should have informed Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla immediately if she was abused.

"Any incident must be reported to the Speaker without delay. As for the allegations being made, the question is who said what and when. The problem lies in their intentions," Banerjee, a Lok Sabha member from Serampore constituency, told news agency ANI.

Dastidar, in a letter to Birla earlier in the day, accused Banerjee of "verbally abusing" her inside the lower House. She claimed Banerjee has a history of misogynistic behaviour towards women parliamentarians, demanding action against the TMC MP.

"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," Dastidar's letter read.

Dastidar's rebellion in TMC

Dastidar's allegations comes amid her rebellion in the party. She has already resigned from all position of TMC; although she continues to remain an MP. 

Dastidar, who attended the administration review meeting by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari earlier this week in Kalyani despite party's instruction of not doing it, has attacked the TMC leadership over the RG Kar rape-murder incident and growing influence of I-PAC over party's machinery.

Speaking to ANI on May 25, Dastidar said I-PAC lacks the experience of contesting elections and its general working methodology is flawed. She even alleged that I-PAC's members misbehaved with TMC workers, however, the party didn't react to her allegations. 

"In certain areas, there was a palpable sense of discontent among the voters, an issue of anti-incumbency directed at our own government and also the SIR, where the names of hundreds of thousands of voters were arbitrarily struck," she said.

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