Leander Paes joins BJP ahead of West Bengal elections

Ahead of the elections in West Bengal, Indian tennis legend Leander Paes on Tuesday (March 31, 2026) joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the party headquarters.

Assembly election updates on March 31, 2026

Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju and Sukanta Majumdar, along with MP Anil Baluni, were present on the occasion.

In October 2021, prior to the Goa Assembly polls, Mr. Paes had joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the presence of party chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Mr. Paes, born in Kolkata in 1973, is a descendant of 19th-century Bengali poet and dramatist Michael Madhusudan Dutt on his maternal side.

One of India’s most successful tennis players, Mr. Paes has won 18 Grand Slam titles (eight in men’s doubles and 10 in mixed doubles) and bagged a bronze medal in singles at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

He was awarded the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award (then known as the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna) in recognition of his winning the Olympics medal. In 1990, he received the Arjuna Award.

In 2001, Mr. Paes was honoured with the Padma Shri alongside his longtime doubles partner Mahesh Bhupathi. He was later conferred India’s third-highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan, in 2014.

He became the first Asian player to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in July 2024.