High drama unfolded at the entry gate of Nirvachan Sadan, New Delhi, last week when a Trinamool Congress MP asked the security personnel deployed at the entry gate to arrest a colleague. The security personnel were dumbfounded when the TMC MP said that her party and Parliament colleague had harassed her.
The incident followed a quarrel between the two MPs last Friday around 9:45 AM at the Ashoka Road HQ of EC. TMC was protesting the duplicate voters' card and linking the same with Aadhaar. They got an appointment for a meeting with the Election Commission at 10 AM on April 4, the last day of the Budget session.
All MPs were asked on the WhatsApp group to be present at the TMC party office by 9:30 AM. They will go to EC together. Many MPs, including the woman MP reached room number 20B in Sanvidhan Sadan, the TMC Party Office.
The woman MP wanted to see the memorandum and sign it. She was told by another MP that a senior Lok Sabha MP had got it and he would come directly to the EC. She then questioned if that was the case, why had they been asked to come to the party office. She could have gone directly to the EC office.
Later, when the MPs reached Nirvachan Sadan gate, the senior MP was there with the memorandum, waiting for them. Seeing him, the woman MP raised her voice and slammed the MP for his conduct. The senior MP shouted back at her. Some of their party colleagues tried to pacify her, but the quarrel continued.
At this point, she told the security personnel present at the gate to arrest the MP for "harassing" her. The other MPs quickly sought to control the damage, saying they should go inside as it was getting late for the appointment.
The MPs later marched to Vijay Chowk and held a press conference there after the meeting on their demand to stop linking Aadhaar with EPIC. From there, they marched to the Makar Dwar of Sansad Bhawan. There, the woman MP was seen speaking with other MPs about why they were not protesting the behaviour of the senior MP.
Kirti Azad vs Kalyan Banerjee
BJP leader Amit Malviya later posted a screenshot purportedly of a TMC-related WhatsApp group where it seems Kalyan Banerjee was taking on Kirti Azad. The contents of the messages could not be independently verified by ABP Live.
The confrontation apparently began over a recommendation letter signed by many MPs to open a sweet shop owned by a bureaucrat's relative.
Malviya then posted a poll on X (formerly Twitter), taking a dig at the TMC. "It is obvious that the chat screenshots and videos of TMC MPs squabbling have been leaked from within… Help Mamata Banerjee figure out who leaked them."
(Story by Bijendra Singh.)