Days after the circulation of a purported audio clip with Mamata Banerjee's voice seeking help from the BJP leader amid the crucial assembly polls, the West Bengal Chief Minister has now admitted that she had called the BJP leader and revealed why she had called him. In what has become a major admission, it has come a day ahead of the second phase of the eight-phased assembly polls in which her Nandigram constituency will go for voting. 

The audio clip was released last Saturday while the state had gone through the first phase of the polls. The clip had stirred furor and controversy around Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The audio clip had carried a female voice resembling that of Mamata Banerjee seeking help from the BJP leader to work for the Trinamool Congress party in the elections. The audio clip was shared by some of the channels in the state and she has been surfaced with the alleged statement that she had reached out to the BJP leader and sought his help. 

After the clip was aired on few TV channels, BJP leader Pralay Pal from Nandigram had addressed the media and affirmed that it was Mamata Banerjee who called him and sought his help to work for her Trinamool Congress party in Nandigram. Pal is a vice-president of the BJP's Tamluk district unit and last year he joined the Central ruling party after leaving Mamata's party. 

Mamata Banerjee is contesting from the Nandigram constituency and she will be taking on BJP's Suvendu Adhikari, who was a TMC leader close to Mamata. Adhikari had joined the BJP in December 2020 and in line with Adhikari, many TMC MLAs and members had joined the BJP. In order to defeat Adhikari for breaking her party, Mamata had decided to contest in Nandigram. However, the recent audio clip had sparked outrage and went against Mamata Banerjee at a high time when West Bengal had become a key battleground state. 

Pralay Pal has claimed that Mamata Banerjee had called him and asked his help to work for her party in Nandigram. It must be noted that Pal was with TMC and joined BJP well ahead of Adhikari. BJP's IT Wing National Secretary Amit Malviya wrote on Twitter, "Massive! Mamata Banerjee calls Pralay Pal, BJP's district vice-president in Nandigram, and pleads for help! Pralay tells her that he was humiliated in TMC and he along with his family cannot betray the BJP. Pishi (Mamata) is definitely losing Nandigram and TMC Bengal". 

Days after the circulation of the audio clip, Mamata has now admitted that she had called BJP leader Pralay Pal and claimed that she got feedback that he wanted to talk to her. While speaking at an election rally at Tengua in Nandigram, Mamata Banerjee said as a candidate, she has a right to call up a voter. She said, "Yes I had called up this BJP leader in Nandigram. I had got the feedback that someone wants to talk to me. So, I talked to him after getting his number. I told him to keep well, to take care of his health. So what is my crime?"

She further said that she will continue to call up people in the same manner in the future and added that if someone makes the conversation viral is a criminal offense and action should be taken against the person who made her conversation viral. According to reports, BJP had earlier released the audio clip in which Mamata can be heard saying, "You (Pal) should help us (TMC) win Nandigram. Look, I know you have some grievances, but that's due mostly to Adhikari who never allowed me to come to either Nandigram or East Midnapore. I will take care of everything henceforth". The BJP's version of the audio clip had gone against of Mamata Banerjee on what she spoke to the BJP leader. 

In his reply, Pal was saying that he can't betray Adhikari and his family as they have stood by him. The development of admission from Mamata Banerjee that she had called the BJP leader has come when Nandigram prepares for the polls. Nandigram has become a high-profile constituency and it will go for polling on April 1, during the second phase. A total of 30 assembly constituencies in West Bengal will go for polling on April 1 and the state has six phases remaining. The votes will be counted on May 2, during which the results would be announced.