New Delhi: With three legs of polling still remaining in West Bengal, Trinamool leader and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O' Brien on Saturday released a bunch of pictures and videos to the press to show the voters how BJP, Congress and Left are working in cahoots to defeat his party.
Showing two videos & 6 pics to the media,Obrien said,“I would not like to comment much on this, but would want everyone to see these pictures and the alliance between CPM, BJP and the Congress, which has been hidden from the people. Andar dosti, bahar kushti.”
But as it turned out the pic showing Home Minister Rajnath Singh offering sweet to CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat at BJP headquarters was morphed.
Both the BJP and the Left claimed it to be photo shopped.
The photo was actually an old one of Rajnath Singh feeding ladoos to PM Modi at the BJP office. But in the photo released by the TMC, Modi had been replaced by Prakash Karat!
Mr Prakash Karat also issued a statement saying, "I have not got any opportunity of meeting Rajnath Singh ever. It is a patently false picture."
Even before Karat spoke out Trinamool put out a statement saying: "Two videos and 6 pics were shown at our press conference. We removed one picture immediately when our research team learnt that it was photoshopped."
We put up six pictures on the website and two important videos. Now out of those six pictures, one as it turned out to be had been morphed by someone else. As soon as they research team got to know about his, we took it off the website immediately. The matter ends there and I thought we did the most dignified thing by taking it off,’ Derek O’Brien told ANI.
For a party that had put a professor behind bars for forwarding a cartoon by email, O'Brien said,"Yes, anyone can take a legal way in the matter. But this is nothing to get so uptight about.’
The BJP and the CPM have both slammed the TMC and threatened to take matter to the Election Commission.
CPI(M)MP Mohammed Salim took to Twitter to express his angst
He wrote on Twitter: “Seems TMC can do no right. Even quizmaster(@quizderek) asking fraudulent questions. People will give befitting answer. #MorphDerek.
Will surely take legal action. @quizderek should rename his handle as @morphderek. He is following lying & deceitful nature of his leader.”
State BJP vice president Jayprakash Majumdar said Trinamool chairperson and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will also come under the purview of its legal action.