Mamata ropes in Saurav Ganguly as Brand Ambassador for WB

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday sprung a real surprise and apparently scored a victory over its political rival BJP, by roping in former Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly as Bengal's Brand Ambassador. The ace Indian Cricketer had earlier accepted to become the tourism brand ambassador for the BJP-ruled Tripura. The final agreement with the Tripura Tourism is likely to be signed on December 11/12.

Bengal Chief minister made this announcement almost all on a sudden at the inaugural ceremony of the Bengal Global Business Summit-23 (BGBS 23). Interestingly, Mo-Sha's party had been trying to field Ganguly for their party and portray him as party's poster boy in the state since the 2021 assembly polls in the state. But that was to no avail.

The state BJP leadership had lapped up Ganguly's acceptance to become Tripura Tourism's brand ambassador. Subsequently, when Ganguly accompanied the Chief Minister on her business mission to the UK, Spain and Dubai and announced his ambitious plans for setting up a steel plant at Jhargram in Bengal, a crestfallen state leadership of the BJP started lashing out at him.

Besides the political advantages, Ganguly's appointment as the state's Brand Ambassador will be Win Win for both. Ganguly already endorses a number of private corporate brands. Many more brands will be attracted to have him in the same capacity once he finally pads up for the state. Similarly, the state is also expected to lure in and get connected to many corporate, for whom Ganguly already bats.

The Bengal Chief Minister also scored other points when Reliance Group supremo Mikesh Ambani made investment pledges for Rs 20000 crore in the state in areas of education, healthcare, digital infrastructure and biofuel, in the next three years, over and above group's ongoing investment of Rs 45000 crore. Reliance Foundation led by his wife Neeta Ambani is also contributing significantly in the state's social sector including renovation and relook of the historic Kali Temple at Kalighat, which is at stone's throw from Chief minister"s residence.

Harsh Pati Singhania pledged significant investment in the state for putting up a large scale, modern dairy.

Famed physician and founder of Narayan Healthcare group said his group would put up a 1000 bed multi-speciality state-of-the-art hospital in the state.