Leander Paes, one of India’s most decorated tennis players, joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on March 31, 2026, in a move timed ahead of high-stakes state elections in West Bengal. The 53-year-old, born in Kolkata and long based in Goa, announced his switch at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi alongside senior party leaders, with photographs shared on the party’s social media channels.
Paes thanked Modi and the BJP “family” for the opportunity, saying, “I played for 40 years, for my parents and family. Now this new game I have entered is for my country and its youth.” Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijju lauded Paes as a “champion who has brought pride to the nation.”
A former world-class doubles specialist, Paes has won eight Grand Slam men’s doubles titles and ten Grand Slam mixed doubles championships. His partnership with Mahesh Bhupathi was widely celebrated in India and nicknamed the “Indian Express” by the media. In 2012 Paes became the first Asian inductee into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Paes’s entry into the BJP is being widely interpreted as a political setback for West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC). In 2021 he had joined the TMC, whose leader Mamata Banerjee — a vocal critic of Modi — had once referred to him as her “younger brother.” Paes did not stand for election while with the TMC.
West Bengal is one of five states holding legislative assembly elections in April. The BJP has worked to expand its presence in the traditionally opposition-held state, making electoral inroads though it has yet to secure a statewide victory. Paes’s switch to the BJP adds a high-profile public figure to the party’s roster ahead of the campaign, and is likely to figure in local political narratives as parties mobilize support.