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11 June 2026

Leander Paes is open to contesting elections, but wants “Mamata didi to decide”

Leander Paes is open to contesting elections, but wants “Mamata didi to decide”

Former tennis star Leander Paes has said that he is open to contesting elections in Goa for the upcoming Assembly polls, but wants to leave it to Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to decide. Answering a question in an interview with NDTV, Paes said: “I am open to contesting election. Let Mamata Banerjee decide that”. But for now, he was keen on learning, he said.

Paes, who recently joined Trinamool Congress, added that his relationship with Banerjee “goes back many years”. His mother is from West Bengal and father is a Goan. He was all-praise for the Bengal CM and said that he was back in the state now, “I’m back now… I see huge opportunities to do good in Goa. I play for India, only my vehicle has changed”.

“I have got my younger brother and sweet and cute brother in the Trinamool Congress,” Banerjee said at the press conference that followed in Goa after Paes joined her party. Paes had said he had met her when he was 14. “She was very encouraging and supportive. It enabled me as a young boy to embark on this game,” Paes had said.

Read More: JNU violence: “echoes of the years of Germany moving towards Nazi rule”, says Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee

[Image: Leader Paes Twitter @Leander]

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