Abhishek's phone tapped before Bengal polls: Cong

KOLKATA: Taking a sarcastic dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress slammed the BJP over allegations of tapping the phone of Abhishek Banerjee, all-India general secretary of Trinamool Congress, on Sunday.

It has been alleged that Banerjee's phone was tapped by Pegasus Malware. A social media post on the official Twitter handle of Congress party read: "Keep your enemies closer. Narendra Modi is following this old proverb."

The post was accompanied with a photograph of Abhishek Banerjee. Congress alleged that the way Banerjee's phone was tapped before the 2021 Assembly election clearly indicated the amount of insecurity 'BJP was suffering from.'

Congress supporters staged a demonstration on Hazra Road intersection on Sunday to protest against the tapping of phones of political leaders, including Abhishek Banerjee and Rahul Gandhi. Youth Congress demonstrators staged a protest at Thakurpukur to protest against the phone tapping and the Centre's failure to bring down the prices of fuel and cooking gas.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) has welcomed the move of Congress and party's Rajya Sabha MP Derek 0' Brien has shared the tweet of Congress on social media.

Political experts said the stand of Congress before the visit of Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee to Delhi on Monday was significant. They maintained that Banerjee knew it well that to defeat the BJP, help from Congress would be needed.

"Congress is not in a position to bargain and also it will not demand seat-sharing or leadership. The opposition alliance against BJP will be inked soon," experts opined.

Sources said Mamata Banerjee during her stay in Delhi would meet the Opposition leaders, including those belonging to Congress. Two Congress leaders, P. Chidambaram and Digvijay Singh, came to the Constitution Club of India in New Delhi on July 21 when Banerjee had addressed the Martyrs' Day event virtually.

During her speech, she had mentioned that if the Covid situation improves, Trinamool will organise a meeting at the Brigade Parade ground in winter where Congress leaders including Sonia Gandhi, P Chidambaram and Digvijay Singh will be invited. Banerjee has said over and again that an alliance against BJP should be set up now though the general election was two-and-half years away.