Kolkata, 5 March

Abhijit Gangopadhyay announced on Tuesday that he is joining the BJP, hours after he resigned as a judge of the Calcutta High Court.

He alleged that the TMC was "synonymous with corruption" and he would fight it till the end. "I will be joining the BJP, possibly on 7 March. I am joining the BJP as it is a national party, which is fighting against the corruption of the TMC in Bengal," he said.  

Gangopadhyay, whose rulings on education-related matters stirred political debates, refrained from giving a direct reply on whether he would contest the Lok Sabha polls. "It is for the BJP leadership to decide whether they want me to fight. Whatever they decide I will accept," he said.

Gangopadhyay said he would fight against the "injustice" and "corruption" of the TMC. "TMC leaders have been using derogatory language against me for quite some time. If they don't like a judgment, then they can't just verbally attack a judge. Such instigations only helped me to take the decision to join politics and fight the TMC, which is synonymous with corruption in Bengal," he said.

"The days of the TMC are numbered in West Bengal. The CPI (M)-led Left Front was decimated in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, ultimately leading to their defeat in the 2011 assembly polls. The TMC will also face the same fate," he claimed.

On joining the BJP, he said the decision was taken over the last few days. "I was on leave for the last few days and got in touch with the BJP. They also contacted me. I felt this is the right platform to fight against the TMC," he said.

Asked about the allegations of corruption against Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP, Gangopadhyay said it was "a cooked up case to frame him and other TMC leaders" to pave the way for a top TMC leader's accession in the party's power structure.

Gangopadhyay sent his resignation letter to President Droupadi Murmu with copies to CJI DY Chandrachud and the Chief Justice of the Calcutta HC TS Sivagnanam in the morning. He joined the Calcutta High Court as an additional judge on May 2, 2018. He was elevated as permanent judge on 30 July, 2020.