Mithun Chakraborty.
Credit: PTI Photo
Film icon Mithun Chakraborty’s election rally at Ranaghat Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal took a theatrical turn on Saturday. The ‘Dada of Bollywood’ was campaigning for the BJP’s Jagannath Sarkar, who had been elected from the constituency in 2019. Sarkar now has against him Mukut Mani Adhikari, a doctor, who was elected to the state assembly from Ranaghat Dakshin constituency on a BJP ticket in 2021 but joined the Trinamool Congress just ahead of the parliamentary elections this year.
Adhikari’s wife Swastika Maheswari turned up at the rally on Saturday and joined Mithun Chakraborty on the podium to warn people: “If you vote for Mukut Mani, you will be cheated just like me”. She also formally joined the BJP. Maheshwari claims that her marriage with Adhikari was registered on May 28 last year, but he refused to accept her as his wife and started asking for divorce the next day. She lodged a complaint with Kolkata Police on June 7 last year, accusing Adhikari of harassment, extortion, betrayal, confinement, and intimidation The divorce case is now at the court.