Amid TMC Turmoil, Did Sourav Ganguly Ask Yusuf Pathan To Vacate Seat For Mamata Banerjee? Ex-Cricketer Says…

Former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly has strongly denied reports claiming that he acted as a go-between for Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee in an attempt to persuade Baharampur MP Yusuf Pathan to resign from his Lok Sabha seat. In a signed statement issued on June 6 and addressed to media organisations, Sourav Ganguly dismissed the claims as completely false and said the allegations involving him showed a “reckless disregard of the truth”. The clarification came days after a front-page report published by Anandabazar Patrika on June 4 suggested that Mamata Banerjee wanted to contest a by-election from Baharampur and had used Sourav Ganguly to convey that message to Pathan.

The report further claimed that Yusuf Pathan, a former India cricketer and current Trinamool MP, had refused to vacate the seat for Banerjee. However, Sourav Ganguly categorically rejected the account and insisted that he had never been part of any such political communication.

Former India captain rejects claims of acting as political messenger

In his statement, Sourav Ganguly directly addressed the allegations and denied having any role in the matter. “I was never requested/asked by Ms Mamata Banerjee to convey any message from her to Mr Yusuf Pathan, whether to step down from his parliamentary seat, as alleged or otherwise or at all,” he said, as per reports. 

Sourav Ganguly also made it clear that he had never contacted Pathan regarding any such proposal. “I never approached or contacted Mr Yusuf Pathan with any such or other request/message. As such, the question of Mr Yusuf Pathan responding in the manner as alleged in the article does not and cannot arise,” he added. The former BCCI president further stressed that he had “never been involved in political matters at any stage with any one concerned” and urged media organisations not to circulate rumours without checking facts.

Report emerges amid uncertainty over Mamata Banerjee’s political future

Neither Yusuf Pathan nor the Trinamool Congress leadership has issued any official response to the report so far. Pathan, a member of India’s 2011 World Cup-winning team, won the Baharampur Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 general election by defeating veteran Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury by around 85,000 votes. Sourav Ganguly and Pathan also briefly played together for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL.

The controversy comes at a difficult time for Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress. Speculation over a possible by-election route emerged after the party’s defeat in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, where the TMC was reduced to 80 seats in the 294-member Assembly and Banerjee herself lost her seat to Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP.

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