The Trinamool Congress (TMC), West Bengal’s ruling party known for its drama-filled politics, has outdone itself yet again – and this time, the stage is not the state Assembly but the heart of Delhi. The ruling party’s internal brawl has turned into a public boxing match, with its own MPs clawing at each other like contestants on a reality show. What began as a memo submission to the Election Commission turned into a full-blown ego battle, now being served to the public on a political platter.

At a press conference held in Delhi on Tuesday, TMC’s Serampore MP and the party’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha, Kalyan Banerjee, fired shots at Bardhaman-Durgapur MP Kirti Azad and a woman MP — whose identity he coyly kept under wraps. This outburst came right after BJP’s social media gladiator and IT Cell chief Amit Malviya gleefully uploaded leaked WhatsApp chats and a video clip, all said to be from the TMC's internal discussions. For once, the BJP didn’t have to lift a finger — the TMC came pre-roasted.

Insiders within the TMC confirmed that the root of the chaos dates back to an altercation on April 4 at the Election Commission office, where a team of TMC MPs had gone to submit a memorandum. But instead of paperwork, the nation got fireworks.

According to a TMC MP, the woman MP noticed her name was missing from the signatories list. That’s when the plot thickened. “There were two things. First, we were told to meet at the TMC office in Parliament. Our party’s chief whip, Kalyan Banerjee, skipped that meeting and reached the EC office, which annoyed some of us. Then, when we reached there, the name of one woman MP was not there and instead Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar’s name was there. Dastidar was not in Parliament that day. This annoyed the woman MP who asked Banerjee why her name was missing. This caused the spat. At that moment, Banerjee used derogatory language, following which the woman MP said the security officials present there should arrest him. This angered Banerjee, who lost his cool and started using all kinds of language,” the source narrated.

The scene outside the Election Commission office resembled a political soap opera – with MPs in sarees and suits playing out a scene that would’ve made even daily TV serial writers blush with envy. One MP even told The Indian Express that things got so heated, the woman MP wanted to file a police complaint against Kalyan Banerjee. “She has written a letter to our party supremo and we are confident that action will be taken,” the parliamentarian said, presumably while ducking to avoid the next verbal missile.

Meanwhile, BJP’s Amit Malviya couldn’t resist his moment of digital glory. He uploaded screenshots of WhatsApp messages between Kalyan Banerjee and Kirti Azad, showing them exchanging words like two angry uncles in a community WhatsApp group. The name of the group? ‘AITC MP 2024’. The issue? A woman leader who somehow became the centerpiece of this grand circus.

Malviya posted on X (formerly Twitter) on April 7, “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 EC. However, the MP carrying the memorandum skipped the Parliament meeting and went directly to the EC.”

Then came the correction – a rare moment of time travel. In a quoted post, Malviya clarified that the incident happened on April 4, 2025, not 2024. Maybe TMC MPs argue so much that even timelines collapse.

He continued, “This angered another MP, who confronted him when they came face to face at the Commission. A heated exchange followed, with the two shouting at each other — so much so that one of them asked the police personnel present to intervene. The matter escalated quickly and reached Mamata Banerjee, who reportedly asked both MPs to stand down.”

According to Malviya, the Chief Minister of West Bengal and the party’s matriarch, Mamata Banerjee, had to step in and play the role of a disappointed school principal. But as anyone following TMC politics knows, you can’t put out a fire with a wet handkerchief.

Malviya added with a flourish, “But the feud didn’t end there. It spilled over into the ‘AITC MP 2024’ WhatsApp group, where warring camps took sides and traded barbs. And in the middle of it all, the question still lingers: who exactly is the ‘versatile international lady’? That mystery is one for the world to unravel.”

Ah yes, the “versatile international lady” – a phrase that now lives rent-free in the political corridors of power, sparking more speculation than any Netflix thriller. Is she a real figure? A metaphor? A poetic jab? Or just a masterstroke of confusion? Even Sherlock Holmes might’ve given up on this one.

Just when the Trinamool Congress (TMC) seemed ready to fight elections, its leaders appear more focused on fighting each other. The party that once challenged the mighty Left Front is now battling its own reflection. The drama that unfolded on WhatsApp and in press conferences has now turned into a political soap opera — complete with allegations, counter-allegations, name-calling, and of course, a mysterious “versatile international lady”.

According to the leaked screenshots of WhatsApp chats between TMC MPs, Kalyan Banerjee took a jab straight from the drama school playbook. He wrote, “Today I Congratulate the gentleman who opened the beautiful activities of versatile international lady. That day not a single boyfriend of her stood behind her. This foolish man whom she wanted to be arrested by BSF, stood behind her. Today of course 30 years famous player stood behind her to get me arrested.”

No, this is not dialogue from a Bollywood thriller — this is an actual sitting MP talking about his colleagues. A “gentleman,” a “30 years famous player,” and a lady whose “boyfriends” are being tallied like cricket scores. Welcome to TMC’s group chat, where metaphors are vague, egos are gigantic, and subtlety is absent.

In Kolkata, Banerjee didn’t stop with the keyboard drama. At a press conference, he said, “She never fought against the CPI(M). She came to the party after 2009 as a friend of a Congress leader and entered district politics. All their backgrounds are like that. Why will I obey her? I am naturally annoyed. She says someone like me should be put in jail, saying I used indecent words. She is completely lying.”

And he didn’t stop there. Banerjee added more fuel to the fire: “The lady has an agenda only to attack Narendra Modi and Adani. She serves the interests of other industrialists. I know everything.” This kind of statement makes it clear — Banerjee wasn’t just fighting a colleague, he was unraveling a conspiracy theory where she’s part activist, part capitalist agent.

Trying to calm things down — or at least pretend to — Kirti Azad responded on WhatsApp with the kind of tone you’d expect from a tired elder trying to manage a noisy classroom: “Take it easy Kalyan. You have had one too many. Don’t act like a juvenile delinquent. You have been entrusted with a very serious responsibility by Didi to everyone along with you. So relax, have a nice sleep. I have no axe to grind with you. I humbly request you as a senior in age to me, not in politics to kindly take everyone together. Stop your childish and erratic behaviour. Act like an adult. Don’t instigate anybody. Think with the cool mind. Good night.”

That message, if nothing else, proves that while Parliament may be empty on some days, the TMC group chat is always full.

But Kalyan Banerjee wasn’t finished. Targeting Azad directly, he said, “One of our MPs who came from the BJP and has no popularity sent this video and WhatsApp chat to the BJP. They never fought against CPI(M). They are tarnishing our party’s image. He was running a signature campaign for a sweet shop to open its outlet in Parliament. I protested against that. It was not the agenda of our party. It was his agenda.”

Yes, amidst all the chaos of national politics, sweet shop outlets and ego trips have become prime talking points. The woman MP wanted to jail someone, the man she attacked is angry, and another MP wanted to sell sweets — yet none of them seem interested in selling policies to the people.

According to BJP’s Amit Malviya, the drama didn’t end after the Election Commission spat. He posted again on X: “Soon after the public spat between two TMC MPs in the precincts of the Election Commission of India on 4th April 2025, the irate MP continued slandering the ‘Versatile International Lady (VIL)’… This is the stuff legends are made of!”

This saga now has its own acronym — VIL — because apparently, in today’s TMC, everyone must either be an abbreviation or a scandal.

Adding to the circus, veteran TMC MP Saugata Roy, who was recently caught puffing away on stage during a public event, came forward to demand the removal of Banerjee. He said, “The WhatsApp chats of the party being leaked is unfortunate. The language used by Kalyan Banerjee is unfortunate. I hope that the party leadership will take cognizance of the matter. Many of our party members wanted to complain to Mamata Banerjee, but whether they did or not, I don't know. Kalyan Banerjee misbehaved with a lady MP, she protested and revolted and then all the MPs went against Kalyan Banerjee...”

But Banerjee, in true rebel style, hit back harder. He claimed, “Saugata da has tarnished the party’s image more than once. He was seen taking money in the Narada video.”

Saugata Roy, not one to back down from the political mud, responded with a sharp critique: “Our MPs went to give a memorandum to the EC. Our parliamentary party chairperson Sudip Bandyopadhyay has a cool mind. But he was unwell and he could not attend Parliament every day. Someone (Kalyan Banerjee) thought he got some extra power and could not keep his cool. If someone talked about him getting arrested, then he must have done something to deserve it.”

He continued, “I am so sad. The party’s image is getting affected because of his behaviour. He has no balance. I don’t know why I am being targeted. He has an inferiority complex. The party will decide what action will be taken against him. Everyone wanted our party leader to know. My opinion is that Kalyan should not be the chief whip anymore.”

Yet another TMC MP chimed in, echoing Roy’s sentiments, stating that Banerjee is “not fit to be the party’s chief whip” and is “too foul-mouthed” to represent the party in the Lok Sabha.

Just when the situation couldn’t get more absurd, Kalyan Banerjee dropped another video — because apparently, in the TMC, no feud is complete without a selfie statement. In response, Amit Malviya posted: “TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee won’t stop at anything. He hits back at his senior colleague Saugata Roy after Roy claimed that Banerjee is damaging TMC’s public image. In a sharp retort, Kalyan calls Roy a man with ‘no character,’ labelling him a ‘chor’ in reference to the Narada case. It seems the TMC is a party of ‘chors’, with Mamata Banerjee herself accused of stealing 26,000 teaching and non-teaching jobs. He reminds everyone that Roy was never a core TMC loyalist—just a follower of Priya Das Munshi—and has never hesitated to challenge Mamata in the past. Kalyan defends his role in Parliament, claiming that if he remained silent, TMC’s performance would suffer. He points to his eight-month-long work on the Waqf Bill as evidence of his contributions. He also takes a direct jab at the “versatile international lady,” calling her “uncivilized,” and says he’s open to criticism from any MP—except her. The most dramatic part? Kalyan says if Mamata herself were to say he’s wrong, he would quit the party and politics on the spot. So, we now know who’s backing him!”

And just like that, in full public view, the Trinamool Congress turned its own WhatsApp group into a full-fledged political battlefield, where emojis have been replaced by expletives and internal discipline by public embarrassment.