The Trinamool Congress MP denied wrongdoing and questioned why the alleged incident was not immediately reported to the Lok Sabha Speaker.
May 28, 2026: Kalyan Banerjee on Thursday responded sharply to allegations made by fellow Trinamool Congress MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who accused him of verbally abusing her inside the Lok Sabha. Addressing a press conference, Banerjee questioned the timing of the complaint and suggested that the allegations were being made with a “motive”. He argued that any such incident occurring inside Parliament should have been immediately reported to the Speaker as per established procedure.
Earlier, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar had written to Om Birla seeking permission to file a formal complaint against Banerjee. In her letter, she alleged repeated verbal abuse and described the behaviour as misogynistic, claiming that similar conduct had affected other women MPs as well. She stated that such actions should not go unpunished and raised broader concerns over the treatment of women parliamentarians.
The controversy comes amid growing tensions within the TMC after Dastidar recently resigned from several organisational posts in the party, including as president of its women’s wing. Although she clarified that she would continue as an MP and remain with the party, she criticised the internal functioning of the leadership. Without directly naming Banerjee in her resignation letter, she referred to the conduct of an “uneducated and rude” party MP and alleged that senior party leaders had failed to intervene or support her adequately.