BJP vs BJP in Bengal's Tamluk? Leader Chandan Mondal vows to defeat candidate Abhijit Gangopadhyay, TMC shares video

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) shared a video of a local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader challenging his own party candidate from West Bengal's Tamluk Lok Sabha seat.

In the purported video, Tamluk's BJP District General Secretary, Chandan Mondal, said, “We pledge to defeat Abhijit Gangopadhyay by a margin exceeding 2 lakh votes.”

Former Calcutta High Court judge Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay is the BJP candidate from the Tamluk Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal. He stepped down as a Judge of the Calcutta High Court and joined the BJP on March 7. He said he would fight against the "injustice" and "corruption" of the TMC.

The Tamluk seat has been a stronghold of the ruling Trinamool Congress, as the party has held it since the 2009 election. TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee had challenged him, saying, “Will defeat you in polls no matter from where you contest".

Gangopadhyay recently courted a controversy after he was heard saying in a purported video clip that the “death knell of Mamata Banerjee” has started ringing.

The TMC claimed that the BJP’s Tamluk candidate wished the death of the TMC supremo and West Bengal chief minister, while the BJP said what Gangopadhyay meant was the “political death of the TMC”.

The video, which surfaced on Thursday, purportedly showed Gangopadhyay telling a reporter: "It seems the death knell of Mamata Banerjee has already started ringing." Mint couldn't independently verify the authenticity of the video.

TMC leader and West Bengal minister Shashi Panja reacted to Gangopadhyay and said, “(BJP leader) Abhijit Gangopadhyay, you should be ashamed of yourself. Your (BJP) DNA is bad. You want Mamata Banerjee to die but the people of West Bengal have kept her alive. Whether it’s you or (BJP leader) Dilip Ghosh, what you all are doing will get to the notice of the Election Commission.”

(With inputs from agencies)