Sourav Ganguly, who was among the successful captains of Team India, was elected the new unopposed chairman of the BCCI after no other member contested against him. Since then, the news of Ganguly joining BJP has started floating in the media. It is said that Amit Shah, former BJP president and home minister of the country, has played a big role in making Ganguly the President of BCCI. However, Amit Shah has described these reports as baseless. Speaking to a news channel, he said that he does not decide who will be the President of BCCI. For this, the BCCI has its own election process and he did not have any conversation with Ganguly about it.
On the question of meeting with Sourav Ganguly, the Home Minister said that there is nothing wrong in meeting the former India captain. He further said that he can come to him as he was also associated with cricket as President of Gujarat cricket association for a long time.
He was further asked if Ganguly will be BJP’s face in the 2021 elections in Bengal? On this, he said that, it is just wrong things being said against Sourav Ganguly. He added that they don’t need a face in Bengal because without a face they had won 18 seats in the Lok Sabha elections of 2019. Shah noted that this does not means that they don’t need a face but they can win without them also.
Ganguly will be the BCCI President for only 10 months as Lodha committee states that an individual can only serve for six years in any cricket body of India. Ganguly has allready served for over five years as Cricket Association of Bengal President .Apart from him, Amit Shah’s son Jai Shah has been elected as treasurer, Arun Dhumal, secretary and younger brother of Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur.
Reports have surfaced that Ganguly was offered a ticket in 2016 Vidhan Sabha elections in Bengal from his favourite seat. It is being said that BJP is looking for a prominent face who can withstand the challenge of Mamata Bannerjee in 2021 elections.
