A day after cricket star Sourav Ganguly was named Tripura tourism brand ambassador, the BJP attempted to portray the appointment as a ‘righting of a wrong’ against a son of the soil, while TMC described it as a ‘normal practice’ and begged the saffron party not to politicize the selection.

The West Bengal BJP unit said that the former Indian skipper was not given his due in Bengal under the TMC administration and asked that he be appointed as the Sheriff of Kolkata.

BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said, “The TMC-led West Bengal government never gave Sourav Ganguly his due respect…the BJP-led Tripura government made him their brand ambassador”.

BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh echoed him, saying the TMC cried ‘crocodile tears’ when Roger Binny took over as the BCCI president last year but had not given Ganguly his due.

Mr. Ghosh said, “When you have a legend like Sourav Ganguly in your state, why do you need someone else as the state’s brand ambassador (Shahrukh Khan is Bengal’s brand ambassador)? But the TMC never bothered to cater to the emotions of Bengalis in the state”.

When cricketer Roger Binny took over as the BCCI president last year, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee expressed surprise at Ganguly’s removal.

TMC said it was the result of a political vendetta and accused the BJP of trying to humiliate the former Indian skipper by refusing to admit him to the party.

In response to the BJP’s claims, the TMC advised the saffron camp not to politicize a common practice.

TMC MP Sougata Roy said, “It is a normal practice to appoint film stars and cricketers as brand ambassadors. Tripura has done nothing out of the box”.

“The BJP is deliberately trying to politicize the issue. We all know how Sourav Ganguly was humiliated by the BJP during the BCCI episode last year”, he added.

Ganguly was once rumored to be the person BJP wanted to hire to lead the party’s West Bengal unit, as the party sought a face to challenge Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s charisma. However, the renowned cricketer has so far avoided politics.

On May 16, the West Bengal government decided to rise Sourav Ganguly’s security cover to the Z category.

The decision was made following the expiration of Ganguly’s tenure of Y category security.

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