Olympic bronze medallist Leander Paes on Tuesday joined the growing list of Bengali celebrity turncoats, switching allegiance from the Trinamool to the BJP at the party’s headquarters.
Paes is the latest high-profile name in a widening trend that has seen actors and sportspersons from Bengal change camps, often outpacing similar defections among politicians in other states.
From high-profile defectors to short-lived political stints, these switches underscore how star power is increasingly deployed—and recycled—by the Trinamool and the BJP in a fiercely competitive political landscape.
Here are the most prominent names who switched camps in the past few years.
Leander Paes
The Trinamool congratulated Paes after he joined the BJP. In an acerbic post of X, the party wrote: “Leander has officially joined BJP4India. Congratulations! You’ve finally found your next Goa Chief Minister candidate. Yet another BOHIRAGOTO (outsider) parachuted into our state by BJP.”
The tennis icon had earlier joined TMC in 2021 and campaigned on behalf of the party during the 2022 Goa Assembly polls.
Babul Supriyo
Playback-singer-turned politician Babul Supriyo had joined the BJP right before the Lok Sabha polls of 2014. He won the polls from Asansol constituency and became a minister.
Supriyo left the BJP in September 2021, claiming he was "quitting politics."
He joined the TMC weeks later. He became MLA from Ballygunje Assembly constituency and became a minister in the government. In March, he was named a Rajya Sabha candidate.
Parno Mittra
The Bengali actor joined the BJP in 2019 and unsuccessfully contested the 2021 elections. In December 2025, she joined the TMC.
“I have joined TMC to correct my mistake of joining BJP six years ago. I am looking forward to a new journey under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee”, Parno said at the time.
Srabanti Chatterjee
The prominent Tollywood actor was a star campaigner for BJP ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls. She severed all ties with the party after losing to senior Trinamool leader Partha Chatterjee, a prime accused in the cash-for-jobs scam, from the Behala West constituency.
Srabanti cited a "lack of initiative and sincerity to further the cause of Bengal" for deserting the BJP.
Srabanti has been closely associated with TMC events and leaders after her BJP exit.
The Tollywood star has been seen in TMC campaigns, such as in Baharampur for municipal polls, and was also present at the TMC 21 July martyrs’ rally in 2025.
Shatrughan Sinha
The veteran Bollywood star severed his two-decade-long relation with the BJP citing alleged mistreatment to join the Trinamool in 2022.
He eventually won the Asansol Lok Sabha seat for TMC in a 2022 by-poll—a seat formerly held by Supriyo.
Mithun Chakraborty
A former TMC Rajya Sabha MP, the veteran actor made a comeback to Bengal politics by joining the BJP in 2021. He remains a "star campaigner" for the party.
He was one of the few BJP leaders to actively oppose swapping leaders when he had said: "We won't accept rotten potatoes from TMC."
Since 2021, fault lines have deepened across Tollywood, Bollywood, and even the sporting world, with prominent personalities joining one camp or the other in large numbers. Such political acrobatics have also attracted innovative jabs like dal-badlu (party hopper), Mir Jafar, and 'Bohiragato' from political leaders and also the public.
The practice of recruiting famous faces attained its peak during the 2021 Assembly election, with many personalities entering the political fray on a BJP ticket. While some have remained loyal, many have switched sides, often more than once, or have gone inactive, to wait and assess political winds.
