Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly’s surprise visit to the Raj Bhawan in Kolkata on Sunday afternoon has triggered a fresh wave of speculations on whether the BCCI president was on course to join active politics ahead of the next year’s assembly polls in West Bengal. Netizens are now wondering if indeed Ganguly will become the BJP’s chief minister’s face in the upcoming assembly polls, scheduled for early next year.
Ganguly stunned everyone by arriving at the Raj Bhawan at around 4.30 PM on Sunday to meet Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar. Dhankhar later tweeted a series of photos of himself with the former India skipper. His caption read, “Had interaction with ‘Dada’ @SGanguly99 President @BCCI at Raj Bhawan today at 4.30 PM on varied issues. Accepted his offer for a visit to Eden Gardens, oldest cricket ground in the country established in 1864.”
The Bengal governor also shared a video of himself, welcoming Ganguly at his official residence.
Had interaction with ‘Dada’ @SGanguly99 President @BCCI at Raj Bhawan today at 4.30 PM on varied issues.
Accepted his offer for a visit to Eden Gardens, oldest cricket ground in the country established in 1864. pic.twitter.com/tB3Rtb4ZD6
— Governor West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar (@jdhankhar1) December 27, 2020
Ganguly’s surprise visit to meet the Governor prompted netizens to wonder if the celebrated former national player was indeed set to join the BJP. Twitter user Surendra wrote, “Breaking news coming from Bengal BJP :- Sourav ganguly will join BJP soon, CM face of BJP.” User Prasun tweeted, “Even if BJP projects Dada as a CM he will loose with In Bengal there is only one face DiDi. Sourav was close to CPIM and now with BJP.”
Speculations over Ganguly possibly being made the face of the BJP in the next assembly polls are not new. Political pundits in the state have long debated this possibility for many months now. But, neither Ganguly nor any members of his family have officially reacted to these claims.
Ganguly is currently the head of the Indian cricket board, where his number two is Jay Shah, the son of the BJP’s key electoral strategist and India’s home minister, Amit Shah.
Last year, Ganguly had issued a clarification on his meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah before becoming the unanimous candidate for the BCCI President’s post. There were reports that Shah had asked the former India skipper to campaign for the BJP in the 2021 West Bengal assembly polls in exchange for his smooth election to the top post in the Indian cricket board.