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News Desk: Bengali film actor Srabanti quit the BJP on Thursday, making an announcement on Twitter. She said the BJP had failed to “further the cause of Bengal”. She did not, however, make any announcement about joining any other party or about her future political ambitions.
The 34-year-old actor had been maintaining a distance from the saffron party after it failed to unseat Mamata Banerjee’s TMC-led government from power despite a high-pitched campaign. She tweeted: “Severing all ties with the BJP, the party for which I fought the last state elections.Reason being their lack of initiative and sincerity to further the cause of Bengal…”
Srabanti, who was once close to chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the TMC, joined the BJP ahead of the West Bengal assembly election in March, and was given the ticket to contest from Behala Paschim. She, however, lost to former state school education minister and TMC heavyweight Partha Chatterjee by over 50,000 votes.
The actor joins a long list of celebrities and leaders, who have either quit the BJP or are maintaining a distance from the party after its defeat in the polls. The West Bengal BJP, however, did not attach much importance to Srabanti’s decision and asserted that “it would hardly impact the party”.
“I really don’t know whether she was with the party after the elections. It won’t have an impact on the party” said West Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar.
Echoing him, BJP leader Tathagata Roy, who has been training his guns on the party top brass for the election debacle, called Srabanti’s quitting the party a “good riddance”.
Roy had criticised the BJP for inducting people with no political background, especially those from the entertainment world, and fielding them in the assembly election while ignoring loyal and trusted party workers. “Good riddance. I don’t recall if she had any meaningful contributions in all the days” the former Meghalaya and Tripura governor said.
