BJP's Mithun Chakraborty to not contest West Bengal Assembly polls: Kailash Vijayvargiya

BJP National General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya revealed on Friday that actor Mithun Chakraborty will not be contesting in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections. Mithun Chakraborty, a former TMC RS MP, joined BJP on March 7 at PM Modi's mega rally at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata. Speaking to the press on Friday, Kailash Vijayvargiya informed that Mithun Chakraborty had refused to contest in the West Bengal elections. Further, Vijayvargiya said that the party would discuss with Mithun Chakraborty if it wanted him to contest in the elections. 

"I have talked to Mithun and he has refused to contest the elections. If the party decides we will talk to him and make him contest the election", Kailash Vijayvargiya said.

Mithun Chakraborty joins BJP

Mithun Chakraborty's induction into the BJP had sent ripples across the political spectrum after he issued a direct threat to the Opposition saying that he would finish his critics in 'one bite' like a 'Cobra.' Addressing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mega rally at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata, he gave a new twist to his own movie dialogue saying, "I am not 'Jol Dhora', I am not 'Bele Bora', I am a pure cobra. You will be finished in one bite. Now, remember the new slogan -- Ek chhobole chhobi."

Openly accepting his tumultuous political history and his brief stint with the Naxal movement as a young boy, he said that it had been his long-standing dream to work for the upliftment of the poor people and Bengal. "I had always dreamt that I will achieve something in life, but never thought that being a person who was born in a very small place would one day share the stage with the Prime Minister of the biggest democracy in the world," he said. 

BJP's saffron push

The saffron party is gearing for a tough battle in Bengal - aiming to attain more than 200 seats, while not fielding a CM face yet. The BJP had already politically divided Bengal into five parts - North Bengal, Rath Bang (South Western District), Nabadwip, Medinipur and Kolkata, handpicking Shivprakash, Sunil Deodhar, Dushyant Gautam, Bhikubhai Dalsania, Ravindra Raju,  Vinod Sonkar, Harish Dwivedi to ta work on booth levels in these regions. With over 65,000 booth committees and 14,000 Shakti Kendra constituted, the BJP has appointed five veterans as central observers - with the final call to be taken by Amit Shah. 

With BJP chief JP Nadda, Amit Shah, PM Modi holding regular public meetings, roadshows in Bengal, the saffron party has also seen an inrush of disgruntled TMC leaders like - Suvendu Adhikari and his two brothers, Rajib Banerjee, Jitendra Tiwari, Vaishali Dalmiya, Dinesh Tiwari and many others. BJP has invited ex-TMC MP Mithun Chakraborty, BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly to join the PM Modi on stage on March 7 at the 'Brigade rally' in Kolkata and Chakraborty is set to accept. The ex-Team India captain is yet to do so.