Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who resigned as a judge of the Calcutta High Court on March 5, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday.
Mr. Gangopadhyay was welcomed by the BJP State party president Sukanta Majumdar and Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari.
“The task we have cut out for us is to ensure that a corrupt political party doesn’t return to power in the State in 2026,” Mr. Gangopadhyay said, targeting the Trinamool Congress.
“I am committed soldier of the BJP and whatever responsibility the party offers, I will try to fulfill that,” he said.
As a judge of the Calcutta High Court, he had presided over several cases involving corruption in the recruitment of State-run schools. Mr. Gangopadhyay had directed an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation in more than a dozen of such cases.
With the former judge joining active politics, the Trinamool Congress leadership has raised questions of political bias behind the orders delivered by Mr. Gangopadhyay. Speculations are rife in political circles that the BJP may field him as a candidate in Lok Sabha polls in the State.
