While the state of West Bengal is going through the first phase of the crucial assembly polls, an audio clip that was released on Saturday had stirred the large-scale furor and controversy around Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has been campaigning by vowing to defeat the BJP and form the government for the third consecutive time. 

The audio clip has been going viral on social media on Saturday even as 32 seats in the state are voting in the first phase of the polls. According to reports, the audio clip carries 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 the polling has begun in 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". 

The purported female voice resembling Mamata Banerjee requested Pal to work for TMC. When Pal said he left the TMC because of the injustices he suffered, the female voice said that those who were in charge of the party locally (mentioning Adhikari) were responsible for those misdeeds. The voice further adds that she will take of all his issues. However, Pal says that he is committed not only to the BJP but also to Adhikari's family. 

The clip was released on Saturday during the first phase of polls in West Bengal and Pal affirmed that the Chief Minister had indeed called him but he had turned down her proposal. The BJP leaders said that Mamata's drive of pleading for help from the BJP leader had shown that her defeat is inevitable in Nandigram. On the other hand, the ruling Trinamool Congress is yet to respond to the allegation that the political observers say would go against Mamata in Nandigram. It must be noted that Nandigram will go to the polls on April 1, as the second phase and the Chief Minister will be reaching Nandigram on Sunday.