Actor Rudranil Ghosh leaves BJP WhatsApp groups after not getting party ticket

Kolkata: Actor-turned-BJP leader Rudranil Ghosh has left many of the party’s WhatsApp groups and said he is not sure about the required qualifications to make the cut as a candidate.

He, however, said on Tuesday that he has no intention to leave the saffron party.

Ghosh left over 60 WhatsApp groups of the BJP but remained with a few on Monday, a day after release of the party’s second list of candidates for West Bengal, causing a flutter in political circles.

His name also did not figure among the party candidates for the two assembly by-polls in the state.

"I am yet to figure out what are the criteria to make the cut as a candidate. So far as fighting the TMC’s terror is concerned, I had fought the challenge head-on during the 2021 assembly elections without backing out,” Ghosh told reporters on Tuesday.

Ghosh had unsuccessfully contested the Bhabanipur Assembly seat as a BJP candidate in the 2021 polls.

He, however, added: "The BJP is yet to announce names of candidates in (Lok Sabha) seats like Jhargram, BIrbhum, Diamond Harbour and Asansol. Let's see."

Ghosh had been a prominent face in the saffron brigade's political programmes ever since and even penned several lyrics critical of the ruling TMC with which he had been associated before joining the BJP in January 2021. He helmed the cultural cell of the state BJP.

He, however, ruled out any possibility of leaving the BJP asserting, "I will work under the leadership of Narendra Modi. I will continue to shoulder my organisational responsibilities as always."

Asserting his leaving some of the WhatsApp groups of the party cannot be equated with any “immediate drastic measure”, Ghosh said, "Most of those groups carry information and videos not required by me. Such posts and contents would only clutter the phone and make it slow."

"I have not left around 10 other important groups of the party. This should set at rest any speculation for now," he added.