Trinamool Congress MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar has complained to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, accusing party colleague Kalyan Banerjee of verbally abusing her inside Parliament and misogynistic behaviour towards women parliamentarians.
The complaint comes amid deepening faultlines within the TMC following its drubbing in the assembly election, with public display of dissent and internal unease increasingly spilling into the open.
In her letter to the Speaker, Ghosh Dastidar sought permission to formally register the complaint and demanded action against Kalyan Banerjee.
"I seek your permission to lodge a formal complaint to you for redressal against Lok Sabha Member of AITC Kalyan Banerjee, who has repeatedly verbally abused me inside the Lok Sabha. This misogyny has been against many lady members and needs to be punished," the MP from West Bengal's Barasat wrote in the letter.
Neither Banerjee nor the TMC leadership immediately reacted to the complaint.
The development assumes significance as it comes barely a day after the four-term Barasat MP quit all organisational posts in the TMC and launched a stinging political diatribe against sections of the party leadership.
She, however, continues to be an MP of Barasat, which she won on a TMC ticket.