Kalyan Banerjee should resign as party’s Lok Sabha chief whip: Trinamool MP Aparoopa Poddar

Trinamool Congress’ internal strife came out in the open with party MP Aparupa Poddar saying that fellow MP Kalyan Bandopadhyay should resign from the position of the party’s Lok Sabha chief whip. Poddar is the MP from Arambagh while Bandopadhyay is the MP of Serampore.

Her grouse against Bandopadhyay is due to his public statement made against the party general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, who is also Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee’s nephew. “If anyone has anything to say, they should express it within the party and not outside. This amounts to making statements against the party and is an anti-party work,” Poddar said.

Last week, Abhishek Banerjee had said that social and political events should be suspended for two months in view of the COVID situation, and had added that it was his “personal” opinion. He had also arranged for huge number of tests from his Lok Sabha constituency, Diamond Harbour, which was appreciated from some quarters. Under this background, Kalyan Bandopadhyay had said made statements against Abhishek Banerjee, saying “personal opinions” should not be expressed by a person holding an important post of a political party and it is a “full-time” position.

After Aparupa Poddar’s statements, Kalyan Bandopadhyay further said that the only leader he followed is Mamata Banerjee. His statements were also criticised by Trinamool’s spokesperson Kunal Ghosh.