Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari was on Friday formally elected leader of the BJP legislature party in West Bengal, paving the way for him to become the state’s first BJP chief minister.The BJP legislature party met in Kolkata in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who announced Adhikari’s name after it was proposed and backed by the newly elected MLAs and senior party leaders. “I announce the name of Suvendu Adhikari elected as Leader of West Bengal BJP Legislative Party,” says Shah, appointed as the Central Observer for the election of the legislative party leader in West Bengal.The BJP scripted a historic victory in the recently concluded assembly elections, ending the 15-year rule of the Trinamool Congress and handing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee one of the biggest setbacks of her political career.Adhikari emerged as the frontrunner for the top post after securing victories from the politically significant Nandigram and Bhabanipur constituencies. While he retained Nandigram — where he had defeated Banerjee in 2021 — his win in Bhabanipur, considered Banerjee’s stronghold, was seen within BJP circles as a major symbolic breakthrough.Once among Banerjee’s closest associates and a key architect of the TMC’s rural expansion, Adhikari joined the BJP in December 2020 and went on to become the party’s most aggressive face in Bengal politics.According to BJP insiders, Adhikari’s organisational reach, sustained campaign against the TMC and electoral performance strengthened his claim for the top post. Other names discussed before the legislature party meeting included state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya and former Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta.BJP govt formation in West Bengal: Suvendu Adhikari elected as party legislature party leader, set to take oath as CM on May 9The swearing-in ceremony of West Bengal’s first BJP government is scheduled to be held at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata on May 9, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah, BJP president Nitin Nabin and chief ministers of NDA-ruled states expected to attend.
