Former Calcutta HC judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay joins BJP

Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay on Thursday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a few days after stepping down as a judge of the Calcutta High Court.

"Maybe on 7th (March) in the afternoon. There is a tentative program, when I will join BJP," Gangopadhyay had said earlier.

"The party will decide whether there will be candidates in the Lok Sabha or not. The ruling party of the state has inspired me to enter politics," Gangopadhyay had said.



There has been speculation that Gangopadhyay will contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls from Bengal's Tamluk constituency on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket. The Tamluk seat has been a bastion of the ruling Trinamool Congress in recent elections; the party has held it since the 2009 election.

Also Read: Who is Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay? Why did he resign as Calcutta HC Judge? What's the controversy surrounding him?

Gangopadhyay rulings on various education-related issues in the state stirred political debates.

"For the last two or more years I have been dealing with some matters, especially education matters, regarding which a huge corruption has been discovered and unearthed. A large number of important persons in the education sector of this government are now languishing in jail, under trial," ANI had quoted him as saying.

He said the reason for him quitting the job was a call of his conscience and added he would work towards the welfare of the public.

Earlier in February, the Supreme Court tagged Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee's plea to issue directions to take action against Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay for his alleged "continuous politically motivated interviews" in connection with sub-judice cases.