“I did call BJP leader, but leaking conversation is wrong”: Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said that she did call a former worker of her party who is now with the Bharatiya Janata Party, but it was not an offence. She said that those who broke the faith and leaked the conversation should be blamed.

The BJP last week played before the media – which was reported in the media before that – a recorded conversation between Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee and Pralay Pal, a BJP leader working with Suvendu Adhikari. Adhikari is the BJP candidate from Nandigram contesting against Mamata Banerjee.

“I did call up this BJP leader in Nandigram. I got the feedback that someone wants to talk to me. So I talked to him. I asked him to keep well and to take care of his health. Is that a crime?” Banerjee said on Tuesday, just ahead of her campaign ending in Nandigram. Election is scheduled in Nandigram on April 1. “As a candidate of the constituency I can seek the help of any voter and I can call up anyone. But if someone leaks the conversation, it is not the right thing to do. Action should be taken against the person who leaked it, not me,” she said.

The recording was leaked on March 27, the day the first phase of polling in 30 seats was held in Bengal. The BJP has said that it shows that Banerjee was using her official position to influence the election. A delegation led by the senior leader Kailash Vijayvargia lodged a complaint with the Election Commission along with the audio tape.