Sourav Ganguly, the former cricket captain, had tea with Bengal governor C.V. Ananda Bose on Tuesday evening, several hours after Raj Bhavan went ahead with an event to mark the “state foundation day” in spite of chief minister Mamata Banerjee recording her unequivocal objection.
Sources close to Sourav termed the visit a “courtesy call”, dismissing any talk of his hobnobbing with the BJP.
"This is not the first time he has called on the governor at Raj Bhavan. There is no question of him being invited to the state foundation day event since no formal function was planned. Please don't read anything more into it," a source said. Programmes associated with the foundation day event had ended before noon on Tuesday.
"In the past too, he had met the then governor Jagdeep Dhankar," the source added.
On Tuesday, Sourav arrived at Raj Bhavan after 5pm with a friend, Sanjay Das, and another acquaintance who is believed to be close to Bose. It is learnt that it was on the insistence of the latter that Sourav visited Raj Bhavan and there was nothing political about it.
None except the trio was present during their interaction and the discussion revolved around "normal stuff". They spent close to an hour with the governor.
Sourav had recently been appointed brand ambassador of Tripura tourism, a BJP-run state. The former cricket captain has categorically ruled out any political allegiance and termed the association a "normal practice" to promote Tripura's rich culture.
