Actor Mithun Chakraborty joins BJP ahead of Prime Minister Modi's rally in Kolkata

Veteran actor Mithun Chakraborty joined the BJP at Kolkata's Brigade Parade Ground on Sunday, shortly before Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived to address a big rally.

The 70-year-old actor was welcomed to the BJP by party national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya and state party chief Dilip Ghosh among others.

"You have to have faith in me. I will always be there with you," he told the gathering while regaling them with some of the famous lines from his hit films.


One of which was, " "I am not a jol dora snake. I am not a beleghora snake. I am a pure cobra. I strike and you will become a photograph."

A CPI(ML) activist in the 70s, the national award-winning actor later shared a close bond with the CPI(M )during the 34-year-long Left Front rule in West Bengal, before developing a good equation with the TMC and often canvassing for its candidates.

The TMC sent him to the Rajya Sabha, but his image was affected when the Saradha group, on which he was brand ambassador, got involved in a ponzi scam. In 2016, Chakraborty resigned from the Rajya Sabha citing health reasons. He had attended parliament only for three days.

The sangh parivar has been courting him since then.

Recently, RSS sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat had called on Chakraborty at his bungalow in suburban Madh Island area of Malad west, sparking speculation on the star’s comeback to active politics after a five-year gap. It was not the first meeting between them, as Chakraborty had earlier visited the RSS headquarters in Nagpur, and then met Bhagwat in UP in another function.

He had then said that he shared a "spiritual connection" with Bhagwat, but had denied any plans of joining the BJP.

On Saturday, Vijayvargiya announced confirmed that Chakraborty will attend the PM's rallies and extend support for the Bengal election campaign.

Political analyst Bishwanath Chakraborty said Chakraborty's induction will help the BJP increase its acceptability with the masses.

"Bengalis have a psychological attachment with Mithun. He is seen as an honest person, who does social work. And people also see that the TMC did not treat him properly. This will help the BJP."

However, the TMC said this was not a big deal. "Mithun is in the past. His best work is over 20-30 years old. This will make no difference to the people of Bengal. He no longer has any pull. We made him an MP. The BJP put pressure on him and he agreed. People can see though that," TMC spokesperson Saugata Roy told ET.