The induction of the formidable BJP MLA from Bongaon North into the Cabinet was not surprising. A prominent face of the Matua community, 52-year-old leader Ashok Kirtania is widely regarded as the BJP’s most trusted strategist in the North 24 Parganas district.

His political rise reflects his deepening influence within his constituency. Since his debut in 2021, he has significantly consolidated his voter base. In 2021, he was elected as MLA after defeating TMC’s Shyamal Roy by 10,488 votes.

In 2026, he retained the seat by trouncing TMC’s Biswajit Das with a staggering margin of 40,670 votes. He secured 56.46% of the total vote share (1,19,317 votes), a testament to the absolute trust of his constituents.

In his vision for the future, Kirtania has pledged to restore the rights of genuine voters whose names were deleted from the electoral roll during the Election Commission’s contentious Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

“For all the Matuas, I will first ensure all those whose names have been deleted intentionally by BLOs—who worked for TMC and deleted genuine voters—will get their rights back,” said Kirtania on Saturday after taking the oath.

Urging people of his community to apply for citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Kirtania said, “We will give them citizenship and bring them back to the electoral roll. My focus is no different from all the other ministers in the Cabinet. We will unanimously work towards executing all Sankalp Yatras. We will build a Shonar Bangla, Modi’s dream.”