Kalyan Banerjee, a Trinamool Lok Sabha MP and Mamata Banerjee loyalist, was suspended for the rest of the Monsoon Session for using “unsavoury” language against women members. The session, which began Monday, ends on August 13.
The 69-year-old leader had a heated exchange with some of his former party colleagues and NCPI MPs in the Lok Sabha chamber after the House was adjourned following an uproar by the Opposition.
As many as 20 Trinamool MPs revolted against the party leadership after the party’s defeat in the West Bengal assembly elections and joined the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI). They started sitting separately, away from the Trinamool MPs in the Lok Sabha.
It was not clear what led to the heated exchange.
The NCPI members involved in the exchange included Mitali Bagh, Shatabdi Roy and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar.
Some members of opposition parties intervened and tried to calm down both sides. On being asked what had happened by some of the opposition MPs, Banerjee left the House.
Bagh, Dastidar and some other NCPI members subsequently went to meet Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in his chamber apparently to raise the issue.
As soon as the House assembled at 2 pm after the second adjournment of the day, Krishna Prasad Tenneti, who was chairing the proceedings, referred to a complaint filed by members with the speaker against Banerjee and said his remarks had hurt the dignity of the House.
He then asked Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal to read out a resolution seeking the consent of the House to suspend Banerjee.
The resolution was passed by a voice vote amid sloganeering by opposition members over the NEET paper leak and other issues.
