TMC vs TMC? From EC office drama to explosive WhatsApp chats – what’s behind infighting in Mamata Banerjee-led party

Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) faces an internal crisis of sorts after a spat between its Lok Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) Kalyan Banerjee and other parliamentarians was out in the open on April 8.

A video of a recent verbal spat between Kalyan Banerjee and a party’s woman MP, screenshots of heated exchanges between Kalyan Banerjee and Kirti Azad, another party MP, in the party’s official WhatsApp group, shared by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Malviya on X, went viral on Tuesday, bringing to fore deep fissures within the West Bengal’s ruling party.

Mint cannot independently verify the authenticity of the WhatsApp messages.

What triggered the infighting?

The controversy began on April 4 when a TMC delegation visited the Election Commission to submit a memorandum regarding duplicate voter identity cards, said a report in news agency PTI quoting Malviya and TMC

TMC MP Mahua Moitra, according to the PTI report, found that her name was missing from the list of signatories on the memorandum that the delegation was to submit to the Election Commission. Instead, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar’s name had been added. Dastidar was not there to submit the memorandum.

Moitra confronted Kalyan Banerjee – the party’s chief whip in Lok Sabha – for ‘excluding’ her from the list. Banerjee is the TMC MP from Serampore. Moitra is TMC MP from Krishnanagar.

Soon, an altercation broke out between the two MPs at the EC office in the national capital. Kalyan Banerjee later claimed that Moitra had even asked the security personnel present there to arrest him, accusing him of misconduct, the news agency report said.

Later, senior TMC MP from Dum Dum, Saugata Roy, said Moitra was crying after the altercation and demanded that Banerjee should be removed as the party’s chief whip in Lok Sabha. “What he has done has maligned the party. He should be immediately removed as the chief whip. Kalyan Banerjee is known for his intemperate and uncivilised behaviour,” Roy said.

Who are they to send me to jail?

Banerjee addressed a press conference on the issue. “I have been in politics for the last 40 years. This woman MP was asking the security outside the EC office to arrest me. Who are they to send me to jail? She hurled abuses at me. I fight in Parliament. I’m not obsessed with one industrial house,” Banerjee said without naming Moitra.

“Just because the woman MP speaks fluent English doesn’t mean she can insult anybody,” he said.

The crisis within TMC comes a year before West Bengal legislative assembly election expected to be held in March–April 2026.

Saugata Roy was not present during the spat at the EC office. But he said he saw Moitra crying and complaining to other MPs at Vijay Chowk.

“She told other MPs he behaved in an uncivilised manner. He has a history – from calling Jyotiraditya Scindia a ‘lady killer’ to throwing a bottle during a JPC meeting (on Waqf Board). I have remained silent so far, but this can’t go on,” he said.

In December 2024, Kalyan Banerjee came under sharp attack for calling Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia a “lady killer” during a heated conversation at the Parliament. Following the incident, BJP women MP met Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju demanding action against the West Bengal MP.

In October 2024,a meeting of the Joint Committee of Parliament (JPC) on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill in Parliament turned ugly after Kalyan Banerjee allegedly smashed a glass water bottle and threw it away during a heated exchange of words with BJP’s Abhijit Gangopadhyay.

The altercation at the EC office on April 4 worsened after it spilled over to the official TMC MPs’ WhatsApp group, where Banerjee and TMC MP Kirti Azad engaged in a fresh exchange.

Screenshots of the chat, shared by Malviya on social media, showed Banerjee making several snide remarks directed at a “versatile international lady”.

“Send your BSF and Delhi Police to arrest me. Your home ministry’s connection is very strong, international great lady,” read one message attributed to Banerjee.

Former cricketer Azad and Bardhaman-Durgapur MP responded sharply in the chat, saying that Banerjee was behaving like a “juvenile delinquent”.

Banerjee then mocked Azad, calling him “captain of internal politics”, and ridiculed him over his electoral defeat in cricket administration.

Earlier issues between Kalyan and Azad

The feud dates back even earlier, according to party insiders, PTI said.

Banerjee had reportedly objected to a proposal by Azad to open a ‘sandesh’ (Bengali sweet) stall in Parliament House. Banerjee had argued that if any outlet was to be opened, it should be a state government franchise.

Moitra exited the MPs’ WhatsApp group after the EC incident and wrote letters detailing her grievances to Mamata Banerjee, the party supremo, and TMC’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, according to the sources.

Kalyan Banerjee is also learnt to have verbally complained to the West Bengal CM about the incident.