'I apologise to the nation': Kalyan Banerjee slams Mahua Moitra over ‘misogynist’ jibe, says she lacks ‘basic gratitude’

New Delhi: Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee on Tuesday said he owes an apology to the nation for having supported fellow party MP Mahua Moitra in 2023.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Banerjee said Moitra had repaid his support by calling him a misogynist.

While tensions between Kalyan and Mahua Moitra had long simmered behind the scenes, the latest escalation began with a series of provocative social media posts by the Sreerampur MP.

Kalyan posted an eight-minute-old video from 2023, showing him defending Mahua in the Lok Sabha during the Ethics Committee proceedings in the "cash-for-query" case.

In the clip, Kalyan is seen questioning why Mahua was suspended without being given a chance to speak, with Moitra nodding in agreement from the adjacent seat.

What caused further dismay in the party high command was the biting caption accompanying the video,"Today she repaid me by calling me a misogynist. I apologise to the nation for ever supporting someone who lacks even basic gratitude.

More eyebrow-raising was the fact that Kalyan tagged not just Mahua and his own party but also the official BJP handle and the Congress.

Party leaders viewed this as crossing the red line.

"It wasn't just defiance, it was near sabotage," a senior TMC leader told PTI. "You don't tag the BJP while attacking your own colleague unless you're making a statement.

According to sources, the episode was merely the culmination of months of discontent. Internal murmurs within the party had long pointed to Kalyan being a polarising figure, especially among TMC's women MPs.

While only Mahua had gone public with accusations of "misogyny" and political sabotage, several women MPs had reportedly complained to the leadership in recent months about Kalyan's tone, behaviour, and language in internal party forums.

Yet the party refrained from acting against him, hoping tensions would de-escalate. But the latest public provocation proved too sharp to ignore.

The Kalyan-Mahua feud, however, is far from new. Earlier this year, outside the Election Commission office, Mahua had publicly asked security personnel to "arrest" Kalyan after a heated verbal exchange.

The senior MP later lashed out at veteran parliamentarian Saugata Roy for siding with Mahua during the fracas.

In the ongoing Monsoon Session, the rift once again played out, with Kalyan opposing Mahua's nomination to speak on the controversial 'Operation Sindoor' issue. The party ultimately chose youth leader Sayoni Ghosh to speak on the matter.

Things reached a tipping point when Mahua, in a media interview, used the metaphor of a "pig", without naming Kalyan, while commenting on political attacks.

Kalyan promptly hit back with a strongly-worded social media post, "Let the public hear the words she has used for a colleague. This is not just an insult; it violates all norms of civil discourse.