Bharatiya Janata Party's National Executive member from West Bengal Anirban Ganguly on Friday slammed the Trinamool Congress-led state government and alleged that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been using Pegasus since she came to power in 2016.
Mr Ganguly also quashed Trinamool general secretary Kunal Ghosh's claims that BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari wants to re-join the TMC since he is feeling suffocated in the BJP.
Speaking to ANI on Friday, Mr Ganguly said, "How come Kunal Ghosh came to know that Mr Adhikari wanted to leave the Bharatiya Janata Party? Did Mr Ghosh tap his phone? I believe that TMC uses Pegasus to tap phones. Mamata Banerjee is using Pegasus since 2016. If she has tapped the phones, why did she not make the conversations recorded public? It is clear that they (TMC) are lying."
The BJP leader pointed out that the internal relations within the Trinamool Congress are keeping very bad and is divided into two factions.
"The internal relations of Trinamool Congress and the situation in the party is very bad. Right now, indiscipline has reached its peak. Trinamool Congress is sitting in two factions, Kunal Ghosh is in Abhishek Banerjee's faction while Kalyan Banerjee is in Mamata Banerjee's faction. Trinamool Congress is now divided into two factions," Mr Ganguly said.
He added, "Kunal Ghosh and his statements are an attempt to divert the people's attention. People know that in TMC nobody listens to anyone. No one is even following the orders of Mamata Banerjee. In his own party, Abhishek Banerjee himself is inclined towards giving up politics and opt for retirement."
This comes amid voting in all four municipal corporations of West Bengal - Siliguri, Bidhannagar, Chandannagar, and Asansol - on Saturday with COVID-19 protocols in place. Voting started at 7 am and will continue till 5 pm. The counting will be held on February 14.
Heavy security has been deployed at every polling booth. Naka checking is also going alongside river patrolling.
The civic polls were earlier slated to be held on January 22, 2022. However, the High Court had postponed the elections for 4-6 weeks, citing that the third wave of COVID-19 has hit the state and that the life of the residents of the state will be put to threat if the elections are held.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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