The Trinamool Congress has been left red-faced after leaked video clips and screenshots of WhatsApp chats surfaced, purportedly revealing a feud among party leaders. The video clips appear to be from the Election Commission’s headquarters, while the WhatsApp screenshots are said to be from the party MPs’ group chat.
All of these were first shared on X by BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya.
On 4th April 2024, two TMC MPs had a public spat at the headquarters of the Election Commission of India, where they had gone to submit a representation. It appears the party had instructed its MPs to gather at the Parliament office to sign the memorandum before proceeding to the… pic.twitter.com/BwqQRE8FhI
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) April 7, 2025
The clips purportedly showed TMC chief whip in the Lok Sabha Kalyan Banerjee shouting at his colleagues while entering the Election Commission’s office as party leaders tried to calm him down. They showed Banerjee continuing with his rant despite being told that the media is watching. He said that he will not tolerate such things as he has not come through “quota” or from any other party.
A TMC source told PTI that this spat occurred on April 4 when a delegation of TMC leaders met the Election Commission over duplicate voter ID numbers and staged a march to Parliament. The source said that Banerjee was given the charge of getting the signatures of TMC MPs on a memorandum that the party was to submit to the EC.
In his post on X, Amit Malviya claimed that it all started after one MP, who was carrying the memorandum, went to the EC office directly ignoring the party’s instruction to first meet other members of the delegation at the party’s parliament office to get the document signed by all of them. “This angered the other MP, who confronted him when they came face to face at the commission office,” he wrote. “Later the fight continued in the AITC MP 2024 WhatsApp group with MPs trading barbs at each other.”
The fight spilled on to the WhatsApp group of the Trinamool MPs where Kalyan Banerjee and Kirti Azad, who joined Mamata's party in 2021, engaged in a spat. In one of the messages, Banerjee referred to a “versatile international lady”.
Speaking to the media in Kolkata, Banerjee admitted that an altercation did take place, but blamed a woman MP. “I have been in politics for the last 40 years. This woman MP was asking the security personnel outside the EC office to arrest me. Who are they to send me to jail? She hurled abuses towards me. It is I who fight in parliament; I am not someone who is only obsessed with a specific industrial house,” he said.
He later said it was Mahua Moitra who he had clashed with and also blamed Azad for leaking the video and screenshots.
As per PTI, Trinamool MP Sougata Roy confirmed that the altercation took place and said that Banerjee be removed as the party’s chief whip in the House over behavioural issues. “I saw Mahua crying and complaining to several MPs, of other parties also, about Kalyan’s behaviour,” he said, adding that the party’s “internal matters” were “leaked”.
Malviya has asked users to help identify who leaked the chats, naming four party leaders.
Newslaundry could not verify the authenticity of the screenshots and clips shared by Malviya.
Mamata Banerjee is yet to comment on the controversy.
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