Internal conflicts within West Bengal’s ruling party, the Trinamool Congress, became public on Tuesday (April 8, 2025). This happened after a video showing a verbal fight between party MPs and screenshots of angry messages from their official WhatsApp group for MPs started spreading widely online.
With a BJP leader taking potshots at “public spat” between two Trinamool Congress MPs and also over the “leaked” Whatsapp chat, party MP Saugata Roy expressed his anguish at the internal rift, stating that chats of the party being leaked and language used by party MP Kalyan Banerjee is ‘unfortunate’.
Reports say that Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra was seen crying after having an argument with her colleague Kalyan Banerjee, according to party MP Saugata Roy. This happened before a TMC team met the Election Commission last week. Roy said Banerjee should be removed from his post as the party’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha because of his behavior.
WhatsApp Video Leaked
His remarks came as purported videos and WhatsApp chats emerged of the bitter exchanges between TMC MPs, including Kirti Azad, who had advised Banerjee to exercise restrain. BJP leader Amit Malviya alleged that two TMC MPs had a public spat at the headquarters of the Election Commission of India, where they had gone to submit a representation on April 4, 2025. He also referred to some video clips and said that after public spat between two TMC MPs in the precincts of the Election Commission of India, the irate MP “continued slandering the ‘Versatile International Lady (VIL)'”.
‘Kalyan Broke A Bottle And Threw’
Talking to reporters in Kolkata, Saugata Roy accused Kalyan Banerjee of being “uncivilised” on multiple occasions and mentioned that during a JPC meeting on the Waqf Bill, the Srerampore MP broke a bottle and threw it at the chairman of the panel.
Saugata Roy expressed his disappointment over the incident, which has caused embarrassment to the party and left it red-faced. He hoped that the party leadership will take cognisance of the matter. “We are very sorry about this whole thing. The WhatsApp chats of the party being leaked is unfortunate. The language used by Kalyan Banerjee is unfortunate. I hope that the party leadership will take cognizance of the matter,” he said.
“Many of our party members wanted to complain to Mamata Banerjee, but whether they did or not, I don’t know. Kalyan Banerjee misbehaved with a lady MP, she protested and revolted and then all the MPs went against Kalyan Banerjee,” he added.
Saugata Roy On Kalyan Banerjee
Answering a query about party MP Kirti Azad, Saugata Roy said he has long background. “Since he had been vocal in supporting Mahua Moitra, that’s why Kalyan Banerjee showed his anger,” he said. Answering a query about purported remarks of Kalyan Banerjee relating to Kirti Azad, Saugata Roy said “this is third class comment”.
“Kirti Azad is a national-level cricketer. He was taken by Mamata Banerjee after he left the BJP. He won on his own steam, after this who will come into the party,” Saugata Roy said.
Saugata Roy also said he was not there “when this spat happened between Kalyan Banerjee and Mahua Moitra”.
What Roy Said
Banerjee was given the charge of getting the signatures of TMC MPs on a memorandum that the party was to submit to the EC. Moitra had alleged that she was not included in the signatories and slammed Banerjee over it outside the EC office,
“I was at Vijay Chowk… The spat took place in front of the Election Commission… After the Press Conference at Vijay Chowk, I went inside Parliament and when I came out after few minutes, I found Mahua was crying and complaining to several MPs about Kalyan’s behaviour… At that time, a number of our party MPs were gathered and discussed that Kalyan’s behaviour will not be tolerated anymore and that everyone will reach out to our supremo Mamata Banerjee,” he said.
Referring to the TMC MPs “public spat” at the EC office, Malviya said in a post on X that it appears the Trinamool Congress had instructed its MPs to gather at the Parliament office to sign the memorandum before proceeding to the EC.
“However, the MP carrying the memorandum skipped the Parliament meeting and went directly to the EC. This angered another MP, who confronted him when they came face to face at the Commission. A heated exchange followed, with the two shouting at each other — so much so that one of them asked the police personnel present to intervene,” Malviya alleged.
“The matter escalated quickly and reached Mamata Banerjee, who reportedly asked both MPs to stand down. But the feud didn’t end there. It spilled over into the ‘AITC MP 2024’ WhatsApp group, where warring camps took sides and traded barbs. And in the middle of it all, the question still lingers: who exactly is the “versatile international lady”? That mystery is one for the world to unravel,” he added.
