TMC to move EC against call tapping

Kolkata: Coming down heavily on the BJP for playing an audio tape on the conservation between Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee and party's nominee from Sitalkuchi, TMC leaders condemned the matter and maintained that it had proved beyond doubt that her phone was being tapped. TMC will report the matter to the Election Commission (EC) on Saturday seeking its intervention into the matter.

Mamata Banerjee had repeatedly alleged that the BJP had brought machines from Russia to tap her phone. Without naming Amit Malviya, BJP IT cell chief, Derek O'Brien called him as "the manager of a lie-manufacturing factory."

"BJP was trying to use it for political mileage without understanding the subject matter of the tape as the conversation was in Bengali and the manager who is an outsider failed to understand the language," the TMC MP said.

Sukhendu Shekhar Roy, the party's Rajya Sabha MP, said Trinamool had raised the issue of phone tapping of Chief Ministers of different states in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

"The minister in charge had told us that their phones had never been tapped. Today's incident has proved that the minister was not telling the truth," he added.

Roy said it was a conversation between party's chairperson who happens to be the outgoing Chief Minister of Bengal and the candidate in Sitalkuchi. "If one listens to the audio tape, there is nothing wrong in it. It was her first reaction as she got the news from the candidate. She instructed him to maintain cool and complete the election."

Roy said the "lie manufacturing factory" had said many things in the past which have been proved false. "It had said those who had protested against the CAA were anti-nationals and again the students of a university in Delhi had shouted anti-national slogans. Both proved false. The factory manager had said a journalist had been spreading anti-national ideologies which has also been also proved false. He is the manufacturer of lies and for the past few months he has been trying to malign TMC by spreading lies and canard."

Earlier on Friday, BJP held a press conference and released an audio tape, in which Banerjee was heard talking to Partha Pratim Roy, party's candidate from Sitalkuchi. BJP alleged that she was heard saying Roy to scare senior police officers.