Kolkata, Aug 20 (IANS): Former Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee, who switched over to the BJP on Tuesday, said that he was ready to contest against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the next Assembly polls if the saffron party asked him to.

"When I was with the Trinamool Congress (TMC), I was a loyal soldier of that party. Now I have joined the BJP and will be its loyal soldier. I will do whatever my party asks me to do. If they ask me to contest against Mamata Banerjee in next elections, I will do so," Chatterjee said after his felicitation by the state BJP leadership here.

He also refuted claims that he had switched over to the saffron camp to save himself from the CBI probe into the Narada scam. "All of you should remember that it (the Narada scam) is a subjudice matter. And there is huge difference between being accused and proven guilty. Nothing has been proved as of now," he added.

Chatterjee was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI in the Narada case after he was purportedly seen taking bundles of cash in the sting footage video.

Chatterjee and his close aide Baisakhi Banerjee, President of the Trinamool Congress Professors cell, who also joined the saffron party along with him on August 14 in New Delhi, were felicitated at the state BJP headquarters here.