05/03/2024
Calcutta High Court Judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay Resigns, To Join BJP.
Former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay on Tuesday (March 5) announced his decision to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This development comes after he tendered his resignation in the morning today. After his final day as a judge of the high court, Justice Gangopadhyay told reporters outside the court premises that he has sent his letter of resignation by post to President Droupadi Murmu, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, and Calcutta High Court Chief Justice TS Sivagnanm. In an interview with local news outlet ABP Ananda, Justice Gangopadhyay had on Sunday revealed his plans to step down.
In a press conference at Kolkata at 2.25 pm today, Gangopadhyay said that the BJP was the only national party who could take on the Trinamool Congress. He said he could not join the Communist Party of India (Marxist) because he was a believer in religion, and that he could not join the Congress because it was dynastic in nature, driving seniors, qualified leaders like Jairam Ramesh to the sidelines.
On being asked if he is about to contest the Lok Sabha polls, he said, “I cannot say that. This will be decided by the high authority of BJP.”
This could happen on March 7, in the afternoon, he said.
On Narendra Modi, Gangopadhyay said that he is a good man, “very hardworking, trying to do some good for the country.”
Gangopadhyay had helmed key judgments hauling up the Trinamool Congress government in the state. This weekend, he told a Bengali news channel that he was planning to resign from his post as judge and could join mainstream politics.
Since 2022, Justice Gangopadhyay has posited himself as a crusader against corruption claims made against the TMC, delivering crucial verdicts that have helped uncover scams like the one in the Bengal school recruitment process. He has said that the attacks that the TMC has subjected him to were brutal and not the kind that the judiciary should get.
When asked as to what is to become of those who are still protesting against the corruption in the appointments scandal, Gangopadhyay said that the matter is no longer with him but other judges.
