Arun Govil of Ramayana fame joins BJP

Govil’s induction into the party came on the day the BJP named candidates for 148 of 159 West Bengal Assembly seats that go to poll in the last four phases, fielding several actors and artistes.

Actor Rundranil Ghosh, who recently joined the BJP, has been fielded from the high-profile Bhabanipur constituency in Kolkata, which is currently held by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Banerjee is contesting from Nandigram this time, leaving her home constituency to senior leader Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay.

State BJP Mahila Morcha president and fashion designer Agnimitra Paul, actor Parno Mitra and popular Bengali folk singer Asim Sarkar have also been named candidates in the last four phases

On March 7, actor Mithun Chakraborty had joined the BJP, just ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata.

Several Bengali actors have recently joined the BJP, which is making a determined bid to unseat the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. In February, actor Hiran Chatterjee had joined the party in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah at Namkhana. Chatterjee, who was the vice-president of TMC’s youth wing, had quit recently.

Days before this, actor Yash Dasgupta joined the saffron party along with other fellow artistes, in the presence of BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and party national vice-president Mukul Roy. Dasgupta is considered to be a close friend of TMC MP and fellow actor Nusrat Jahan.

The other Tollywood actors who joined the BJP along with Dasgupta were Raj Mukherjee, Ashok Bhadra, Meenakshi Ghosh, Mallika Banerjee, Papiya Adhikari, Soumili Ghosh Biswas and Emila Bhattacharjee.