Retired IPS officer Bharati Ghosh, once considered close to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, joined the BJP on Monday at the party headquarters in the national capital. The Indian Express had first reported about Ghosh’s plans of joining politics to take “revenge” against the TMC government in the state. “I will definitely join a political party soon. When I followed their (TMC’s) instructions, I was hailed as an honest officer. The moment I started putting my foot down on things I thought were inappropriate, they initiated criminal cases against me. I am determined to give them (TMC) a befitting reply,’’ Ghosh had told The Indian Express. Ghosh, who is under the state Criminal Investigation Department’s (CID) investigation for extortion, joined the party in the presence of Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, BJP general secretary and the party’s West Bengal in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya and senior party leader Mukul Roy, a former TMC leader. Vijayvargiya tweeted, “The BJP family continues to grow in West Bengal. I welcome former IPS officer Bharati Ghosh to the party.” Sources in the BJP said Ghosh is likely to contest the Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket. Ghosh was posted as West Midnapore superintendent of police with additional charge of Jhargram as Banerjee became the chief minister after the TMC won the state elections in 2011. Considering her active roles in curbing Maoist activity in the area, she was awarded a service medal on August 15, 2014. Considering her ostensible proximity to Banerjee, the Election Commission had transferred Ghosh out of the area first during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, and then again before the 2016 state Assembly elections, after receiving complaints against her from opposition parties. She was reinstated after the elections. Ghosh was seen falling out of favour after former senior TMC leader Mukul Roy left the party to join the BJP — the former officer was seen as close to Roy.
