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regular-article-logo Thursday, 09 May 2024

Bengal Assembly polls 2021: TMC has conceded election, claims BJP leader after circulating audio clip of Prashant Kishor

Trinamul poll strategist dismisses Amit Malviya's 'selective' leak, insists saffron party won't cross 100 seats

Our Bureau, Agencies Calcutta Published 10.04.21, 02:28 PM
Prashant Kishor.

Prashant Kishor. File picture

The BJP shared an audio clip on Saturday to claim that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s poll strategist Prashant Kishor had conceded defeat in the ongoing Assembly elections after acknowledging that there was a “Modi cult” in the entire country which would play a key role in the saffron party’s favour during voting in Bengal.

At least four separate audio clips were shared by BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya on his twitter handle prompting Kishor to say that the BJP was using to selective portions of his conversation with a group of journalists to come to conclusions. "I have said this before & repeating again - BJP will not CROSS 100 in WB. Period," Kishor tweeted.

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Kishor appears to say in the clips that Narendra Modi is as popular as Mamata in Bengal. Other factors including polarisation, anger against the TMC government and Dalit votes will work in favour of the saffron party.

“In a public chat on Club House, Mamata Banerjee’s election strategist concedes that even in TMC’s internal surveys, BJP is winning.

The vote is for Modi, polarisation is a reality, the SCs (27% of WB’s population), Matuas are all voting for the BJP!

BJP has cadre on ground,” one of Malviya’s tweets, which went viral, read.

In one of the clips, Kishor is heard saying, “If there is a vote, then it is in the name of Modi, in the name of being Hindu. polarisation, Modi, SC (Scheduled Castes), Hindi-speaking -- these are the factors.

“Modi is popular here (Bengal). Hindi-speaking people have more than one crore votes. Dalits are 27 per cent and they stand with the BJP fully. Also, polarisation is there,” he went on to say.

In another clip, Kishor appears to concede that there is anger against the Mamata Banerjee government, but no such issue exists when it comes to Modi. He also said that the two leaders are equally popular. “We have done a survey on leaders and Modi and Mamata are equally popular, which is a very big thing,” he says.

Posting another clip, Malviya wrote, “Another candid admission by Mamata Banerjee’s election strategist - all that the Left, Congress and TMC ecosystem have done in the last 20 years is Muslim appeasement. Implication? It has resulted in resentment on ground. The speakers had not realised that the chat was public!”

Here, Kishor was heard saying that the previous governments, as well as TMC, have been appeasing minorities for the last 20 years. “In Bengal, the key to winning polls is whoever the Muslims vote for, will bag the elections...there is some element in which the BJP gets favour, and that element is coming from the blatant misuse of minority politics. We cannot deny that.”

Kishor also said that the Matua community will largely vote for the BJP, but “not as unitedly as they did in the Lok Sabha”. He conceded that there will be 75 BJP to 25 other parties in case of this group of refugees from Bangladesh.

“TMC’s election was just thrown away,” Malviya wrote, sharing the final clip, where Kishor was told that the chat room was open for all, and someone was recording the talk to post it on social media.

“On a day Bengal is voting for 4th phase on as many as 44 seats, TMC cadre and leaders woke up to find out that Mamata Banerjee’s election strategist has conceded the election,” he said in another tweet.

Reacting to the whole fiasco, Kishore took to Twitter later and wrote, “I am glad BJP is taking my chat more seriously than words of their own leaders! They should show courage & share the full chat instead of getting excited with selective use of parts of it.I have said this before & repeating again - BJP will not CROSS 100 in WB. Period.”

In another tweet, Kishore said that the saffron party will “struggle” to cross double-digit in the state.

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