India, May 28 -- Trinamool Congress MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar has sought Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla's permission to file a formal complaint against party colleague Kalyan Banerjee, accusing him of misogyny and repeated verbal abuse.

In a letter to Birla, she alleged that Banerjee had "repeatedly verbally abused" her inside the Lok Sabha chamber. She further wrote that "this misogyny has been against many lady members and needs to be punished."

The move marks a fresh escalation in the growing rift within the Trinamool Congress.

A day earlier, Ghosh Dastidar resigned as chief of the party's women's wing. In her resignation letter, she said the party had failed to protect her from the abuse of a fellow MP, indirectly referring to Banerjee....