TMC Infighting Sparks Shake-Up: Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar Named Chief Whip After Kalyan Banerjee's Exit

In a major reshuffle triggered by internal discord, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday (5 August) appointed Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar as the party's new chief whip in the Lok Sabha and Satabdi Roy as the deputy leader.

The move followed Kalyan Banerjee’s resignation on Monday (4 August) amid tensions and reported coordination issues among party MPs.

Banerjee, a four-time MP from Serampore, cited intra-party conflicts. “I’ve decided to step down,” he told a news channel, pointing to “a lack of coordination among MPs.”

TMC posted on X: “Shri Kalyan Banerjee submitted his resignation yesterday to the Chairperson from the post of Chief Whip of the @AITCofficial Parliamentary Party in the Lok Sabha. The Chairperson has accepted his resignation and thanked him for his contributions in that role. In consultation with party leadership, Dr. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar has been appointed Chief Whip and Smt. Satabdi Roy as Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha with immediate effect.”

Banerjee’s resignation follows public spats with fellow MPs, especially Mahua Moitra and Kirti Azad. In a post on X, he wrote, “In 2023, I stood by Ms Moitra when she was under fire in Parliament... Today, she repays that support by calling me a misogynist.”

He added, “I owe the nation an apology for having defended someone who clearly lacks basic gratitude.”

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