BJP latches on to Kishor’s ‘admission’ of defeat in chat, he says release full conversation
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Politics

BJP latches on to Kishor’s ‘admission’ of defeat in chat, he says release full conversation

The BJP has released purported audio clips of comments by Mamata Banerjee’s poll strategist Prashant Kishor to claim that he has admitted defeat in assembly polls.

Neelam Pandey    
File image of election strategist Prashant Kishor | Photo: PTI

File image of election strategist Prashant Kishor | Photo: PTI

New Delhi: Mamata Banerjee’s poll strategist Prashant Kishor has allegedly said that Trinamool Congress’s internal surveys show the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning the West Bengal assembly elections. The BJP made this claim Saturday as it released purported audio clips of Kishor’s comments on invite-only chat app Clubhouse, where he engaged in a public conversation with select journalists.

Amit Malviya, senior BJP leader and co-incharge of the party in West Bengal, made the claims in a series of tweets to release four audio clips.

“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!” he said in a tweet.

However, Kishor blamed the BJP for picking up select comments from the chat and distorting the context.

The audio clips are being shared by a number of BJP leaders on a day when 44 out of 294 seats in West Bengal are polling in the fourth phase.

Also read: BJP changes Bengal campaign strategy, will now target Congress to ensure three-way contest

What can be heard in the clips?

In the clips released by the BJP, Kishor can be purportedly heard saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has been soaring in West Bengal. He can also be heard saying that Modi is popular among the Hindi-speaking community; and that the Matua community would also be voting for the BJP though “not as unitedly” as they did in 2019.

However, the poll strategist for the ruling TMC can also be heard saying that the BJP voters are more vocal in their support for the party and a few from the Left also want BJP to come to power so that they can continue to “run their business”, which is why a perception is created of “majority”.

The BJP has been sharing these clips as confession by the TMC that the former is winning the assembly elections.

“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 to resentment on ground. The speakers had not realised that the chat was public!” Malviya said in another tweet.

In the released clips, Kishor can also be purportedly heard saying that there is no anti-incumbency against Modi. He also purportedly spoke about a “cult” of Modi that has been created across the country though he maintained the extent could vary.

Journalists say conversation twisted

Many journalists who were part of the Clubhouse chat defended Kishor and said the conversation has been “twisted” to suit the BJP’s purpose.

“People have taken out one small part of a long free wheeling chat about Bengal elections, and twisted it to suit their purpose. Prashant Kishore said he was even more confident about Bengal after the 3 phases, when pressed by journos during a #Clubhouse conversation,” tweeted journalist Gargi Rawat.

Also read: SC refuses to entertain plea for probe into alleged attack on Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram