Kolkata, 15 September (H.S.): Union Minister and senior BJP leader Sukanta Majumdar on Tuesday attended Ganesh Puja at the Kolkata residence of Ghatal MP and actor Dev, triggering fresh speculation in political circles about the latter’s possible proximity to the BJP.

Majumdar was accompanied by Anupam Bhattacharya, president of the BJP’s South Kolkata organisational district, state BJP working committee member Anal Biswas and several other party leaders. The visit comes shortly after Dev, whose real name is Deepak Adhikari, left the Trinamool Congress and joined the NCPI.

Majumdar, however, dismissed any political interpretation of the meeting and described his visit as a courtesy engagement. Responding to questions about the alleged growing proximity between the BJP and NCPI, he urged people not to read political motives into the visit.

He said his relationship with Dev goes back several years. Recalling the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign, Majumdar said Dev, then a Trinamool Congress star campaigner, had visited his constituency to campaign. According to Majumdar, Dev had openly acknowledged their cordial relationship from the campaign stage and had also said that the better candidate should win. Majumdar said he appreciated Dev’s broad-minded approach and reiterated that his visit to the actor’s residence was purely out of courtesy.

The development assumes significance against the backdrop of recent political realignments in West Bengal. Following the change of government in the state, 20 Trinamool Congress MPs reportedly left the party and joined the NCPI. Before joining the new outfit, the MPs had held a meeting at the residence of BJP central leader and Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav. Dev was also present at that meeting.

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had attended the meeting as well, but subsequently did not maintain any visible proximity with the NCPI MPs after returning to the state. BJP state president Shamik Bhattacharya and Majumdar had also maintained their distance from the group. Against this backdrop, Majumdar’s presence at Dev’s Ganesh Puja has attracted considerable political attention.

On Monday, Cooch Behar MP Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia had claimed that 17 of the 20 MPs who had left the Trinamool Congress and joined the NCPI were preparing to join the BJP. He further claimed that the three minority MPs would not join the BJP but would extend support to the NDA.

Reacting to the claim, BJP state president Shamik Bhattacharya had sarcastically said that the BJP these leaders wanted to join might be the “BJP of Mars.”

However, Majumdar’s visit to Dev’s residence the very next day has once again fuelled speculation in political circles. While the BJP leader has termed the meeting a courtesy visit, the development is being closely watched amid continuing discussions over the political alignment of the NCPI MPs.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh