Kolkata: Deceased senior CPI-M leader's son joins BJP

Arunava Nandy, the son of late CPI(M) leader Amitava Nandy, joined BJP on Monday and was welcomed to the fold by the party's state unit president.

"Arunava is from a family of a well-known Communist leader. His joining the party will certainly add strength to BJP and inspire more youths to come and join us," BJP state president Rahul Sinha said. When asked why he chose to join BJP despite being from a Communist family, 36-year-old Arunava, who has never been associated with any political outfit, said "I cannot let a party or its leaders dictate what I should be doing, whom I should talk to or not talk to. This is the situation in both CPI(M) and the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).

"In fact, I think people have forgotten the ideology which my father used to believe in. Things have changed a lot in CPI-M and that's why I thought of joining BJP and working for it," he said. Amitava Nandy, who was a former CPI-M state committee member, was an MP from Dum Dum Lok Sabha constituency. He lost to Trinamool Congress's Saugata Roy in 2009. The veteran leader passed away in 2014 after prolonged illness.