West Bengal: Tollywood actor Hiran Chatterjee joins BJP, Suvendu Adhikari shares video

Amid the mass exodus from Bengal's ruling party Trinamool Congress, yet another actor joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday. Tollywood actor Hiran Chatterjee on Thursday joined BJP in presence of Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and BJP state unit Dilip Ghosh in Namkahana.  

Actor Hiran Chatterjee was earlier with TMC Yuva morcha. The development comes amid BJP's growing proximity with Bengali film celebrities in the run-up for Bengal elections. Chatterjee's move comes after Bengali film actor Yash Dasgupta on Wednesday joined BJP along with several other actors of the industry.

Trinamool heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari who in December joined BJP shared the video of Chatterjee's grand welcome.

WB polls: BJP eyes big names in Bengali film industry; says celebrities set to join party

WATCH

Suvendu quits TMC

On December 17, Suvendu Adhikari officially quit the Trinamool party on Thursday. Tendering his resignation to TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, Adhikari thanked her for the opportunities afforded to him. Earlier he resigned from the MLA post, and held a closed-door meeting with disgruntled leaders of the party including senior MP Sunil Mandal, Jitendra Tiwari, Nityananda Chattopadhyay. However, Bengal Speaker Biman Banerjee has not been accepted Adhikari's resignation stating 'improper norms'. The TMC chief has directed Prashant Kishor to reach out to rebels again, saying, 'I will fight the polls alone otherwise', as per sources.

Adhikari - the mastermind of 2007 Nandigram agitation - holds influence in about 35 assembly constituencies in West Midnapore, Bankura, Purulia, Jhargram and Birbhum districts. He had been creating rumours for the past few months by holding rallies not under Trinamool flag or its supremo - Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's posters, and had skipped cabinet meetings. While Suvendu himself is very influential, his father Sisir Adhikari and younger brother Dibyendu Adhikari are TMC MPs from Tamluk and Kanthi Lok Sabha constituencies respectively. After the breakdown of talks, Adhikari resigned from the cabinet post of Transport minister after quitting as Hooghly River Bridge Commission chairman, saying it was 'difficult to work in TMC'. West Bengal goes to polls in April-May 2021, where Mamata Banerjee eyes a third consecutive term.

West Bengal poll battle

The West Bengal Assembly with 294 seats will go to polls in April-May 2021, Trinamool holds 222 seats at present. However, BJP has made major inroads in the state in the Lok Sabha elections winning 18 seats out of 42 and establishing itself as the major opposition force in the state. BJP has claimed it will win 200 seats in the elections, while the TMC, via poll strategist Prashant Kishor, has contended that the saffron party won't cross 99. 

Recently, Trinamool trumped BJP in all 3 polls, but the BJP is using its booth-level strategy and has regularly dispatched its top leaders including Amit Shah and JP Nadda in the state for winning the upcoming elections. 

BJP meets actor Prosenjit Chatterjee who played Netaji Bose; triggers WB poll speculation