TMC hints at role of BJP insider in leaking Mukul Roy-Bajoria audio clip
The Trinamool Congress on Sundayhinted that the audio tape in which BJP national vice-president Mukul Roy purportedly told another leader ShishirBajoria about how to influence the Election Commission wasleaked by someone in the saffron camp.
Reacting to Union Home Minister Amit Shahs allegationthat the release of the audio clip by the Mamata Banerjee-ledparty proved that phones of opposition leaders were beingtapped in the state, the TMCs national spokesperson DerekOBrien said that it was up to the BJP to find out who hadleaked it.
“If there is a conversation between A and B, logicdemands that either A or B has leaked the information,”OBrien told a press conference in Kolkata.
“We were so far thinking that Khela Hobe (game willhappen) means the battle between the TMC and the BJP. Nowthere seems to be another group. Let them (BJP) figure it outby themselves,” he said indicating that there is a disgruntledcamp in the saffron party which has leaked the audio clip.
OBrien also asked the members of the media to findout who was behind the leaking of the audio tape.
The TMC on Saturday released to the media an audioclip of the purported conversation between Roy and Bajoria,who is also an industrialist.
In the audio clip, Roy is heard telling Bajoria toconvince the EC to allow polling agents, even from outside agiven constituency, to function at all polling stations.
“See, we have to include this point while meeting theEC. We have to say that this rule that polling agents can onlybe deputed in their localities should be changed. The onlycriteria should be that the person is a citizen of the state.
The BJP wont be able to have its agents in a large number ofbooths otherwise,” Roy purportedly told Bajoria.
Polling agents of parties, under the existent rules,are allowed only at booths in localities where they normallyreside. The rule had been relaxed last week to allow agents tobe appointed from any part of an assembly constituency.
At a press conference in New Delhi, the Union homeminister hit out at the TMC claiming that the release of theaudio shows that phones of opposition leaders were beingtapped in West Bengal.
The TMC claimed that the audio clip had “blown the lidoff” the nexus between the BJP and the Election Commission.
OBrien said that the poll panel apparently changedthe time tested provision at the behest of the BJP whichdoesnt have enough people to deploy as agents in every boothand the TMC opposed this alteration.
“The BJP is literally desperate. They (BJP) have gottogether all agencies. They are doing this to counter MamataBanerjee and her development initiatives,” the Rajya Sabha MPsaid.
However, no such ploy will be able to stop Banerjeesvictory and “the gas balloon of (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiand Shah will be deflated on May 2” when votes will becounted, he said.
Referring to Shahs assertion that the BJP will winover 200 seats in the 294-member West Bengal assembly, OBriensaid that the senior BJP leader has a poor track record inmaking such predictions.
“Shah had predicted a landslide victory for the BJP inBihar in 2015 assembly polls and his party got much fewerseats. In Delhi, the BJP had got a few seats in 2015 and 2020assembly polls. Similar is the case with Jharkhand andMaharashtra in recent times,” he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)