Overview
- Banerjee conferred the Banga Vibhushan on BJP Rajya Sabha MP Nagen Roy, known as Ananta Maharaj, in Kolkata during Mother Language Day events.
- The gesture is widely read as outreach to the influential Rajbanshi community in North Bengal before the April–May Assembly elections.
- Roy, a key Rajbanshi figure nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the BJP in 2023, dismissed speculation about switching parties.
- Both Roy and Banerjee have recently criticized the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, a live issue for Rajbanshi voters.
- Trinamool is weighing extensive deployment of its MPs for the state campaign, which party sources say could lead some to skip part of Parliament’s March 9–April 2 Budget Session.