Suvendu Adhikari to be BJP's first West Bengal Chief Minister

BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari will be the next chief minister of West Bengal, becoming the first BJP leader to head a government in the state. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday formally announced senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari as the elected leader of the BJP legislature party in West Bengal.

The announcement marks a historic breakthrough for the BJP in Bengal, where the party has spent decades trying to dislodge regional and Left forces from power. Adhikari’s elevation comes days after the BJP secured a sweeping victory in the assembly elections, winning 207 of the 293 seats it contested in the 294-member House, reports India Today.

The new BJP government in Bengal will take oath at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Ground tomorrow in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president Nitin Nabin, Union ministers and chief ministers of BJP-ruled states.

Adhikari had long been seen as the frontrunner for the top post, especially after BJP leaders repeatedly stressed during the campaign that Bengal would get a “son of the soil” chief minister rooted in the state’s linguistic and cultural identity.

Suvendu Adhikari delivered one of the most symbolic victories of the election by defeating outgoing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur, a constituency long regarded as her safest political stronghold. Adhikari also retained Nandigram, the constituency closely tied to the 2007 anti-land acquisition movement that transformed him into one of Bengal’s most influential political leaders.

Speaking in Nandigram earlier this week, Adhikari had said he would vacate one of the two seats within 10 days, while making it clear that the final decision would rest with the BJP leadership.

“I will not forget my responsibility towards the people of Bhabanipur and Nandigram,” he had said, while supporters repeatedly urged him not to leave Nandigram, which he often describes as his political “bhadrasan” or citadel.

The journey of Adhikari’s political rise has mirrored Bengal’s changing political landscape. Once among Banerjee’s closest aides in the Trinamool Congress, he played a key role in the Nandigram agitation that helped end the Left Front’s 34-year rule in 2011. His switch to the BJP ahead of the 2021 assembly polls dramatically altered Bengal politics and laid the foundation for the saffron party’s eventual rise to power.

Addressing party workers after the BJP victory, Adhikari described the moment as the “real change” in Bengal politics.

“I was part of the 2011 poribartan, and now I am part of the real change,” he had said.

He also projected confidence about the BJP’s long-term future in the state, saying the party would work in a way “that the BJP government in Bengal stays for 100 years”.