Moushumi Chatterjee, veteran actress and Congress member, joins BJP ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha polls

Veteran actor and Congress member Moushumi Chatterjee joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of party National General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Wednesday. In 2004, Chatterjee had contested the Lok Sabha elections for the Congress from Kolkata North East constituency but lost to Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) candidate Mohammad Salim. Chatterjee had earlier admitted that joining politics in 2004 was a mistake. "It was a mistake on my part. I couldn't understand the nuances. I had only 25 days," she had said.

In 2014, it was speculated that she might join the Trinamool Congress (TMC). She, however, later ended the speculation about contesting the Lok Sabha elections on a TMC ticket and also said no to campaigning for candidates.

Delhi: Veteran actor Moushumi Chatterjee joins BJP in presence of party National General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya pic.twitter.com/trLlJXuFPX

— ANI (@ANI) January 2, 2019

Chatterjee was born in Calcutta, her father Prantosh Chattopadhyaya was in the Indian Army and her grandfather was a judge. She is married to Jayant Mukherjee, son of famous playback singer Hemant Kumar. They have two daughters, Payal and Megha. She started to act in Bollywood movies after her marriage, which was quite unusual for Indian women during that time.

She was one of the highest paid actresses in Hindi films. Some of her famous movies were Anurag, Roti Kapda Aur Makaan, Benaam, Humshakal, Swarg Narak, Anand Ashram, Angoor, Maang Baro Sajna and Ghar Ek Mandir etc.