After Shah visit, Sourav talks of close relation with Mamata

Kolkata: A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah paid a visit to his residence and had dinner with his family, which grabbed attention, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly spoke of his close relation with the Chief Minister, who is known to be a strident critic of the BJP.

Ganguly also showered praise on city mayor Firhad Hakim describing him as a person who can be approached by anyone at any time of the day.

"Our honourable CM Mamata Banerjee is a person very close to me. I had approached her to help up this institute," he said.

"I am also very close to Firhad Hakim. He has been seeing me since I was in Class 1. He has been our family friend. All who approach him get help. I too have called him several times", he said.

Shah's visit to Ganguly's residence had fuelled speculation that he would join politics soon.

Aware of the conjectures, Ganguly had said, "Many speculations are rife but I have known him (Shah) since 2008. While playing, I used to meet him. There's nothing more than that".

Ganguly had visited the state secretariat on April 28 and met Banerjee regarding the allocation of land to the Cricket Association of Bengal, to build a stadium.

Political analyst Biswajit Chakraborty described him as a "businessman" who is trying to maintain good terms with the central and state governments so that his business runs smoothly.

Another analyst called him a "perfect gentleman" who was doing a "balancing act".