Viral audio clip ‘exposes’ rift within BJP

: The faction feud within the BJP jumped to the forefront after an audio clip of its Haringhata MLA Asim Sarkar went viral where he purportedly accused his own party nominee from Bongaon Shantanu Thakur of being a marijuana addict.

Millennium Post has not verified the authenticity of the audio clip where Sarkar has purportedly used expletives to lambast Thakur and asked his followers in Bagda, Helencha area not to cast their vote in favour of Thakur who is also the Union Minister of State for Shipping.

Referring to this development as a “comedy circus”, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Shashi Panja said: “One elected representative is saying that he wants to apply for citizenship (CAA) and the other is accusing him of being a marijuana addict. They are exposing each other’s weakness in the audio file by mud slinging at one another,” Panja added.

She maintained that if Thakur, being a BJP candidate, spoke about giving CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) now, it is a violation of MCC (model code of conduct) and the party would ask the poll panel for his disqualification. Local Trinamool sources said that internal feud between the saffron party is an open secret with a section supporting Thakur while another supporting Sarkar and the BJP MLA from Bongaon North, Ashok Kirtania.