'Draupadi' brings down curtain on BJP's battle scene in Chennai

TV and film actor Roopa Ganguly, head of the BJP's ma hila morcha in West Bengal, was in the city on Saturday to campaign for the party's candidates. She was introduced as the "actor who played the role of Panchali" by the party. BJP , which has brought down many of its leaders and ministers for a campaign blitzkrieg in the state, may have thought a film star would work in a state where movies and politics have long gone together. In West Bengal, however, where Roopa Ganguly comes from, political orientation and leanings were ideological in the past and the support was largely from the sidelines.

That changed in the run-up to the 2011 election when Mamata Banerjee's slogan of change resonated with many intellectuals. Trinamool Congress recruited many actors as Mamata didn't have too many known faces to project from within the party's ranks. "A lot of film personalities have come to politics. But they have not done much. The reason is Mamata Banerjee. She herself said that besides her all the other Trinamool candidates are just stones," Ganguly says.

While in TN, actors who jump into politics ease into political talk and stay on the message, Roopa Ganguly seems to speak from her heart. There's noth ing scripted about her views and she doesn't talk policy or even politics while discussing problems. "I came to Chennai more than 20 years ago for a film shoot. I see many new buildings and obviously there is more money . But at that time there were so many trees. I wonder where the trees have gone. Isn't Chennai hotter now because there are fewer trees?" she asks.

She says she neither likes Jayalalithaa nor Mamata. "I don't know much about Jayalalithaa to comment much. But I feel it is not technically possible for someone to amass so much wealth in one generation through legitimate means," she says. About Mamata, however, she launched into a full attack, saying that she is whimsical and has squandered an opportunity .

Known for candid interviews and not being coy about her personal life, Ganguly faulted the lack of work culture in Bengal. "Everywhere in Bengal there is apathy towards work. People have been taught the employer is their enemy. How will they work?" she asks.