Indian tennis legend and the 1996 Olympics bronze medallist Leander Paes joined the country’s ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) ahead of the West Bengal elections on Tuesday.
Paes joined the party in presence of senior BJP leaders, including former Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju in Delhi.
This is not Paes’ first stint in politics. Though he didn’t contest, he had joined West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in 2021 and had campaigned for the party in the 2022 Goa elections.
The latest development comes after Paes meeting with BJP President Nitin Nabin in Kolkata last week set off speculations.
The BJP is looking to end the Mamata Banerjee led TMC’s 15-year long reign in West Bengal with the state set to undergo polls from 23 to 29 April next month.
A former world No 1 and 18 times Grand Slam winner, Paes is widely regarded as the greatest Indian tennis player of all time.
Paes is not the first athlete to enter politics ahead of the West Bengal elections. Former Asian Games gold medallist heptathlete Swapna Barman had joined the TMC last month.
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