12 movie, TV stars in West Bengal join BJP

New Delhi: Adding a celebrity quotient to the BJP, around a dozen Bengali cinema and television actors and actresses on Thursday joined the saffron party in the presence of its senior leaders, including Mukul Roy and Dilip Ghosh, the West Bengal BJP president. Among those were Parno Mittra, Rishi Kaushik, Kanchana Moitra, Rupanjana Mitra and Biswajit Ganguly.

After the actors formally joined the saffron party at the BJP headquarters, Mr Dilip Ghosh accused the state’s ruling Trinamul Congress of “harassing” those who join the BJP, and said it had become “risky” for people to join his party. He said this was the reason why the BJP organises joining ceremonies for personalities from West Bengal outside the state and added that these actors deserve credit for their “courage”.

Welcoming the 12 into the party fold, Mr Ghosh said the people of the state were inspired by the leadership and development work by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Alleging that many councillors who had quit the TMC to join the BJP were being harassed, Mr Ghosh said 17 municipal council members from Darjeeling had not been able to visit their homes after joining the BJP. He claimed some others were “forced” to rejoin the TMC.

Several state leaders, including MLAs, from other parties have joined the BJP since the Lok Sabha polls, when the saffron party won 18 of the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP is hoping to wrest power from the TMC in the state and has emerged as the main opponent of Mamata Banerjee’s party.