Sourav Ganguly and Bhaichung Bhutia are the two biggest sporting icons of Kolkata, but their current fortunes couldn’t have been more contrasting. While Ganguly, out of the Test and one-day squads, is trying to fight back, the Indian football captain is seeing success both on and off the field .

Now, rumours abound of his campaigning for the Left Front in the coming assembly elections. The ruling party here has apparently released a CD where Bhutia has joined football greats P. K. Banerjee and Chuni Goswami in singing praises of the party.

Bhutia, though, denies this role, says his sole aim is to get East Bengal the National Football League (NFL) title. “I have never taken sides with any political party and so the whole information is baseless,” he said.