BJP selling tickets for Rs 1 lakh, TMC alleges; Sukanta Majumdar denies

Majumdar, however, said the allegation was intended to malign BJP’s image.

In the recording of a phone call, an unidentified man is purportedly heard talking to a “local BJP worker”, whose name flashes on the phone screen as Pritam Sarkar. “The BJP worker” purportedly tells the caller that he could become a party candidate in exchange of Rs 1 lakh.

He purportedly claims that the poll victory for some BJP candidates will be ensured in arrangement with the TMC.

The Indian Express could not verify the authenticity of the audio clip, posted by the TMC on its Twitter handle.

The TMC tweeted, “@BJP4Bengal is demanding one lakh for each candidate. @DrSukantaBJP, is this how you collect funds for your propaganda? SHOCKING!”

TMC secretary general and state minister Partha Chatterjee also shared the video and said, “The total lack of credible faces in @BJP4Bengal is making them sell democracy in Bengal at the cost of ?1 lakh per candidate. Utterly shameless for a group that has been outrightly rejected in Bengal and will be rejected time and again.”

Speaking on the allegation, Majumdar said, “Has any party post holder of the BJP said such things? Will you believe it if some random person says that Sukanta Majumdar will ensure a job for me if I give him money. This is as foolish as it can get. And one cannot decide the candidature of any person in the BJP. It is decided by our collective leadership. This is a planning of the TMC to malign our party’s image by making up such an audio clip. Even the person who is speaking as a BJP worker was earlier with the TMC.”