Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee 'apologises to nation' for supporting colleague Mahua Moitra in 2023

In a post on X, he said: "In 2023, I stood by Ms. Moitra when she was under fire in Parliament - I did so out of conviction, not compulsion. Today, she repays that support by calling me a misogynist. I owe the nation an apology for having defended someone who clearly lacks basic gratitude. Let people see her words for what they are and judge accordingly."

The Serampore MP also shared a video of his speech in support of Moitra.

Banerjee's post came hours after Moitra congratulated party MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar for being nominated as Chief Whip.

"Heartfelt congratulations to my senior colleagues @kakoligdastidar & @SatabdiRoyMP for being nominated Chief Whip & Deputy Leader of AITC in Lok Sabha. God bless & shine on," she posted on X. 

Banerjee and Moitra have traded nasty barbs over the past few months.

The internal rift in the TMC was out in the open on Monday with MP Kalyan Banerjee resigning from the post of chief whip in the Lok Sabha, a move seemingly triggered by his party colleague Mahua Moitra calling him a “pig”.

TMC MP Mahua Moitra, in a podcast with a media house, hit out at Kalyan Banerjee, and called him a "pig" following Banerjee's "anti-woman" remark against her.

Banerjee also accused her of breaking a family (referring to Moitra's recent marriage to divorced BJD ex-MP Pinaki Misra), following an earlier war of words over a rape of a student in a Kolkata law college by a Trinamool Congress functionary.

"I have quit as the party's chief whip in Lok Sabha, as 'didi' (West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee) said during the virtual meeting that there is a lack of coordination among party MPs. So the blame is on me. Hence, I have decided to step down," Kalyan Banerjee told ABP Ananda channel.

Banerjee had stepped down as the party chief whip in Lok Sabha alleging that he was being blamed unfairly for lack of coordination among MPs even as some barely attend Parliament.

The move came hours after a virtual meeting of TMC MPs chaired by party supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, where she reportedly expressed her displeasure over poor coordination in the party's parliamentary wing.

Earlier, Mahua Moitra, in a podcast with a media house, had hit out at Kalyan Banerjee, dubbing him a "pig".

"You don't wrestle with a pig. Because the pig likes it and you get dirty," Moitra had said, responding to Banerjee's comments on her marriage to Odisha's former MP Pinaki Mishra.

"There are deeply misogynistic, sexually frustrated, depraved men in India and they have their representation in parliament across all parties," she added.