NEW DELHI: In line with the BJP’s bid to swell its ranks in West Bengal to prepare for the 2021 state Assembly elections, the saffron outfit netted a dozen film and television stars on Thursday.
West Bengal BJP unit chief and Lok Sabha MP Dilip Ghosh inducted a dozen actors in the party unit. Ghosh told reporters at the party headquarters in the national capital that the actors have been inspired by the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to join the party.
Parno Mitra, Biswajit Ganguly, Kanchana Moitra, Rishi Kaushik, Rupanjana Mitra were among the actors who took BJP membership.
The BJP apparently is following in the footsteps of the ruling Trinamool in Bengal which is seen promoting actors in politics, including fielding them in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. Nusrat Jehan and Mimi Chakraborty are amongst film actors elected to the Lok Sabha from the state on TMC symbols in the recently held general elections.
Alpesh, Zala joins the saffron bandwagon in GujaratMeanwhile, in a major blow to the Congress in Gujarat, former party legislators Alpesh Thakor and Dhavalsinh Zala joined the BJP on Thursday.
Thakor and Zala had resigned as MLAs on July 5, apparently after voting against Congress candidates in the Rajya Sabha bypolls.
A prominent OBC leader of Gujarat, Thakor described the BJP as a party of “disciplined workers” and said it was difficult for him to work for his community when he was in the Congress.
“I was feeling suffocated in the Congress as I could not work for the development of the poor people of my community. In that party (the Congress), no work can be done due to infighting and attitude of its leaders,” said Thakor.
Thakor and Zala joined the ruling party at a function held in its headquarters here in the presence of Gujarat BJP president Jitu Vaghani.
Zala, a close associate of Thakor, was the MLA from Bayad in Sabarkantha district. In the past, Zala had said that he was not feeling comfortable in the opposition party.
Maharashtra Congress, NCP MLAs likely to resign this week
MUMBAI: Predicting turmoil in state politics, newly appointed state president of BJP’s Maharashtra unit, revenue minister Chandrakant Patil has said that many of the MLAs from opposition parties like the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are likely to resign over next week to 10 days.
“Since its less than three months to the assembly election and by-elections are not conducted if MLA resigns for such a short period, several MLAs from the opposition parties would start resigning in about a week or ten days,” Patil said while interacting with media at Solapur on Thursday.
Patil said that even some of the five state working presidents of the Congress too might join the BJP in coming days.