There seem to be lot of similarities in the personal and career graph of Tamil Nadu’s super star Rajinikanth and West Bengal’s greatest cricketer Saurav Ganguli. Both are being actively wooed by the BJP. Both the leaders have time and again showed their soft corner for the BJP but have shied away from taking the plunge into active politics.

While Rajini had even announced the formation of a local party to fight the elections, Ganguli has been more circumspect. Yet, both have never hidden their admiration for the BJP. At the same time, both the leaders tried to avoid joining active politics. Interestingly, both the leaders were repeatedly hospitalized at a time when rumours of their joining BJP were flying thick and fast. More interestingly, they announced their decision not to join politics from the hospital. Both were hospitalized twice in a short span of time. Sources say that Rajini was worried about his image, while Ganguly is worried about protecting his family businesses. He feels that Mamta Didi would target him if he joined the BJP.

If sources are to be believed, the BJP wants to project Saurav Ganguly as the party’s chief ministerial candidate. Ganguly has an aura of his own and Bengalis love him very much. By projecting him, the BJP wants to endear itself to the Bengali voters, especially the young voters, in a big way.