Political circles have been abuzz of the BJP trying to bring Sourav Ganguly on board since before West Bengal elections last year but the BCCI president has held off on announcing a political plunge
Former India skipper and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly is likely to play host to Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his Kolkata residence on Friday evening, setting off another round of will-he-won’t-he speculation.
Political circles have been abuzz of the BJP trying to bring the former cricketer on board since before West Bengal elections last year with some reports suggesting he was being offered the Chief Minister’s post if the party won, but Ganguly has held off on a political plunge so far.
The visit, which is not on Amit Shah’s packed itinerary for Friday, will begin with a programme at the Victoria Memorial where Ganguly’s wife Dona Ganguly will be performing a dance piece in the Union Ministry of Culture’s ‘Mukti-Matrika’ event. The Home Minister will then head to the Ganguly residence in Behala where he is likely to be hosted for dinner.
Sources said Shah may be accompanied by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and MP Swapan Dasgupta.
Commenting on the likely meeting between Shah and Ganguly, Chief Minister had said in jest that she would ask the former cricketer to feed Bengal delicacy mishti doi to the Union minister.
Playing down the buzz over the meeting, BJP vice-president Dilip Ghosh said: “I don’t know if he (Shah) will go to Sourav’s residence or not. We have no schedule of this. Meeting eminent people is part of our organisation’s tradition… let’s try to get an opinion.”
Ganguly enjoys cordial ties with both the BJP government at the Centre and the Trinamool Congress government in the state. He had visited Nabanna, the West Bengal Secretariat, a few days ago and held a meeting with Mamata Banerjee.
