On May 2, the process of counting votes for assembly elections in four states and one Union Territory in underway. During West Bengal’s election result coverage, India Today’s journalist Rajdeep Sardesai commented that Trinamool Congress should treat Congress with Rasogullah if it wins Bengal.
Sardesai said, “What has happened clearly is that as the campaign went on in the sixth, seventh and eighth round, every time you see a greater polarization. By the time Malda, Murshidabad comes the polarization is so complete that the traditional Congress voter says Congress is not going to win I will give it to Mamata. I want to defeat the BJP. So the Congress also stopped campaigning. The Congress was in any way the defeatist mode in Bengal. And Mamata has benefitted from the Congress defeatism and therefore she needs to give Rasogullahs to Congress.”
Reason why people call Rajdeep Congress’ DALAL. pic.twitter.com/qtrV2oMkQH
— BALA (@erbmjha) May 2, 2021
To which Rahul Kanwal replied, “You are giving too much credit to the Congress. The Congress was never in the race.”
It is evident that Mamata Banerjee remains a popular local leader in West Bengal, however, while Rajdeep Sardesai was desperate to extend a face-saving rationale to Congress, Rahul Kanwal hit the nail on the head when he said that Congress was never in the race.
Rajdeep Sardesai’s history is filled with embarrassing moments
This is not the first time Sardesai has made comments that seem to have embarrassed his colleagues. Recently, during January 26 riots coverage, he did a lot of misleading and fake reporting, which was criticized heavily. The situation went so bad that he had to disconnect with India Today for a while.
West Bengal Assembly Election results
By 12:00 PM on May 2, according to Election Commission, TMC is leading on 194 seats while BJP is leading on 80. Three rounds have been completed so far, and the actual results should be out by 6 PM, Sunday. You can check our live coverage here.