Assembly Election 2021 News LIVE Updates: Veteran actor Mithun Chakraborty, who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the assembly elections in West Bengal, may be fielded for the polls, sources in the party told CNN-News18. Chakraborty shared the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his rally on March 7 at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade ground and joined the party the same day. Hours after his induction, the actor said he won’t jump any queues for the role of the chief minister. “If it (CM’s post) comes to me via protocol then I will consider it… but I will not jump the protocol.”

The BJP’s journey of making inroads into Tollywood began in 2019 after the party won 18 of Bengal’s 42 Lok Sabha seats. On July 18 that year, as many as 13 actors joined the BJP in Delhi and Kolkata. While none of them are stars, all are popular faces on television or the big screen. Chakraborty was once known for his radical Left leanings but later he became close to several top Left leaders including late Subhash Chakraborty. He earned fame after he debuted in Mrinal Sen’s award winning movie ‘Mrigayaa’.

In 2014, he was nominated as Rajya Sabha member by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee but after two years he resigned citing health issues. He was the brand ambassador of the now-defunct Saradha group of companies owned by Sudipta Sen (now behind bars). The actor has appeared in more than 350 films, including Bengali, Hindi, Odia, Bhojpuri, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Punjabi.