Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee was suspended from the Lok Sabha for the remainder of the Monsoon Session of Parliament on Wednesday for allegedly using inappropriate language for the women members of the Nationalist Citizen Party of India, The Hindu reported.
The women MPs are Kalyan Banerjee’s former colleagues from the TMC.
On June 14, a rebel faction comprising 20 of the TMC’s 28 Lok Sabha MPs announced their intention to merge with the Nationalist Citizen Party of India and support the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in the Lower House.
The NCPI did not have any MPs before this. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is yet to approve the merger of the rebel TMC faction with the little-known Tripura-based party.
On Wednesday, Kalyan Banerjee had an argument with some former members of the TMC after the Lok Sabha was adjourned in the morning, reported The Hindu. It was unclear what the argument was about or what Kalyan Banerjee said.
A complaint was filed against him before Birla by MPs Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Shatabdi Roy and Mitali Bagh.
When the Lok Sabha reconvened at 2 pm, Telugu Desam Party MP Krishna Prasad Tenneti, who was in the chair, referred to the complaint and said that Kalyan Banerjee’s remarks had “hurt the dignity of the House”, The Hindu reported.
A resolution seeking the House’s consent to suspend Kalyan Banerjee was passed by a voice vote.
After his suspension, Kalyan Banerjee described the TMC’s rebel MPs as “traitors and dishonest people”, ANI reported.
“They [NCPI] do not even have 20 voters,” the news agency quoted him as saying. “They have nothing. Not a single person has voted for them in West Bengal.”
He also claimed that the BJP government in West Bengal will “fall after a year”.
Ghosh Dastidar had sought Birla’s permission to file a complaint against Kalyan Banerjee on May 28 as well, alleging that he had repeatedly verbally abused her inside Parliament.
Kalyan Banerjee’s behaviour reflected misogyny, the Lok Sabha MP from West Bengal’s Barasat seat had alleged. She also claimed that similar conduct had been directed at other women legislators as well.
TMC split
After the rebel faction announced its intention to support the NDA, TMC’s leader in the Lok Sabha, Abhishek Banerjee, had on June 19 submitted petitions to Birla, demanding that the 20 MPs be disqualified on the grounds of leaving the party.
Citing the 10th Schedule, Abhishek Banerjee had also contended that the merger can be considered valid only if two-thirds of a political party, not the legislature party, merges into another party.
The TMC has been beset by internal divisions and rebellions after it lost the Assembly elections to the BJP in May. Nearly 60 out of the TMC’s 80 MLAs have rebelled against the party leadership to choose Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
The group has been recognised by the Assembly speaker as the party’s legislature party in the House, and Ritabrata Banerjee has been recognised as the leader of the Opposition.
On July 9, three TMC Rajya Sabha MPs who had resigned from the House in June joined the BJP. They were elected unopposed to the Upper House on BJP tickets on July 17.
On July 16, one more TMC MP resigned from the Rajya Sabha. With this, the Trinamool Congress’ strength in the Upper House fell to nine from what was 13 in May.
Edited by Sneha.
Also read: Why the Trinamool Congress is collapsing like a house of cards
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