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Priyanka Gandhi, Kalyan Banerjee Trade Political Jabs Outside Parliament Amid TMC Rebel Row (IMG: X)
New Delhi: An interesting and politically charged dialogue occurred within the Parliament complex on Thursday involving Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and the suspended Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Kalyan Banerjee while protesting against the defection of TMC Members of Parliament.
Banerjee was staging a protest against the merger of the 20 rebel members of TMC with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) when Priyanka Gandhi addressed him on the political movement between the two parties.
Parliament Monsoon Session: TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee was seen interacting with Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra inside the Parliament premises.@priyankagandhi @KBanerjee_AITC #Parliament #MonsoonSession #LokSabha pic.twitter.com/vqBoHe29NB
— Dynamite News (@DynamiteNews_) July 30, 2026
As captured in visuals provided by news channels, Priyanka Gandhi is heard addressing Banerjee saying, "You took them from Congress to TMC."
Reacting to her statement, Banerjee took into account the political movement of founder of TMC and the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee saying that she had been forced to leave the Congress party in 1997.
"Even I was with Congress once. I was the vice-president of the Youth Congress. You people forced Didi to leave in 1997," Banerjee said.
In the discussion, Priyanka Gandhi added that ex-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had tremendous respect for Mamata Banerjee.
"I think Rajiv ji had tremendous respect for didi," said Priyanka adding that Banerjee agreed with the comment.
Further, the TMC leader went on to say that after the departure of Mamata Banerjee from the Congress, the party went on to associate itself with CPI-M even after Banerjee was at war with the Left Front in West Bengal.
While the discussion was going on, Kalyan Banerjee was continuing with his protest against the move taken by 20 TMC MPs to join NCPI after the defeat of TMC in the state of West Bengal.
These MPs include former TMC chief whip Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, deputy leader Shatabdi Ray and actor turned politician Deepak Adhikari and Saayoni Ghosh.
This has further helped strengthen the NDA.
TMC chief Abhishek Banerjee has written to the Speaker of Lok Sabha Om Birla seeking urgent hearing on disqualification petitions against the 20 MPs.
The delay in the process is of serious concern, he said, asking the Speaker to invoke Article 10 of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution regarding defection of MPs.
It must be mentioned here that the political spat involving Priyanka Gandhi and Kalyan Banerjee is a reflection of the long and complicated history of political rivalry between Congress and TMC.
