Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 8: The “giant killer” Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated the outgoing chief minister Mamata Banerjee in her stronghold of Bhabanipur constituency in Kolkata city, was on Friday elected the leader of the BJP legislature party in West Bengal to be sworn-in as the chief minister of the first BJP government in the state on Saturday, the birth anniversary day of the Nobel Laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore.
Mr Adhikari was elected the leader at the BJP legislature party meeting in Kolkata in the presence of the Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Dilip Ghosh, a senior BJP leader and former state president, proposed Adhikari’s name. Besides Mr Shah, who was appointed the central observer for the meeting, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, was also present as the co-observer.
“I announce the name of Suvendu Adhikari elected as Leader of West Bengal BJP Legislative Party,” Home Minister Shah announced at the legislature party meeting. Mr Shah said all the proposals were received in favour of Suvendu Adhikari.
The development marks the end of Trinamool Congress rule in West Bengal after 15 years. The BJP’s victory in the polls held last month ended Mamata Banerjee’s long hold on power and delivered one of the sharpest reversals in her political career. The Governor RN Ravi had dissolved the state assembly on Thursday, clearing the legal path for the new administration.
“The atmosphere that had been created since the Communist era was deepened by Mamata Banerjee, and it was almost impossible to cast your vote there… I am very thankful for the huge victory that the people of Bengal have given us by trusting BJP and our leader, Narendra Modi,” Shah added. “This is Shyama Prasad Mukherjee’s government.”
Talking to media persons, Mr Shah said he ‘cannot forget the 321 BJP workers’ who laid down their lives for the party’s journey in West Bengal. “I have travelled all across the country, never have I seen such violence except in Kerala and West Bengal,” Mr Shah said. “This (BJP’s) victory means another thing, that infiltration and cow smuggling from the borders would become an impossibility,” Mr Shah said.
The Union Home Minister thanked the voters of Bhabanipur, where Mr Adhikari defeated Mamata Banerjee in her bastion. “The margin of BJP legislatures is 28,000 on an average. In nine of the 23 districts, Mamata Banerjee has drawn a blank. I have never seen such a mandate, particularly when the party is in Opposition. West Bengal has witnessed 93% voting and no allegation of booth capturing was made even by Trinamool,” Mr Shah added.
Hitting out at the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government, he said, “A situation was created in Bengal first by the communists and later Mamata Banerjee where it was difficult to exercise the right to vote freely.” “For five decades, West Bengal suffered a nightmare in terms of law and order and economic development,” Mr Shah added.
“The victory in West Bengal is significant because after 100 years of our ideological continuity. We have a government from every State from Gangotri to Gangasagar. I feel that wherever Shyama Prasad Mookerjee is there, he would bless the Narendra Modi government.”
The 57-year old Adhikari, who joined the BJP in December 2020 after leaving the Trinamool Congress, where he had once been a close associate of Banerjee, emerged as the clear choice. He defeated Banerjee in Nandigram in 2021 and more recently won the Bhabanipur seat, her traditional stronghold, by a margin of over 15,000 votes.
“Whatever guarantees have been announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP government in the State will fulfil all responsibilities,” Mr Adhikari later said. Cases relating to atrocities on women will be reopened, he said, adding that the party’s only motto in Bengal was ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikash and Sabka Vishwas.’
Both State government and Union government will together work for the people of West Bengal, he said. “We will ensure security of women, instil nationalism and make West Bengal country’s cultural capital again,” Mr Adhikari added.
The BJP is also understood to be considering the appointment of two deputy chief ministers. No one has held the post of a deputy chief minister in Bengal in the last two decades, the last being CPM leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who served under former chief minister Jyoti Basu and later became the chief minister.
The key contenders for the deputy chief ministers’ posts — one of which is likely to go to a woman leader – are Agnimitra Paul, who won from Asansol Dakshin and Shankar Ghosh, the winning candidate from Siliguri. Home Minister Shah held separate meetings with Paul and Ghosh in Kolkata to discuss these arrangements.
The swearing-in ceremony for the new government is scheduled to be held at 11 AM on Saturday at the historic Brigade Parade Grounds in the heart of Kolkata. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah, BJP national president Nitin Nabin, and chief ministers from other BJP-ruled states are expected to attend.
Adhikari built his early career within the Trinamool Congress and played a big part in expanding the party’s organisation in rural areas. His switch to the BJP came after growing differences with Mamata Banerjee. Since joining the BJP, he has been one of its most visible faces in West Bengal, leading aggressive campaigns against the Trinamool government.
Senior BJP leaders said his organisational network and direct wins against Banerjee strengthened his claim to the top post. While other names, including Samik Bhattacharya and Swapan Dasgupta, who won from Rashbehari, were discussed in party circles, the central leadership settled on Adhikari.
Since the election results were announced on Monday, instances of post-poll violence erupted across the state including the murder on Wednesday of Mr Adhikari’s personal assistant Chandranath Rath by unidentified gunmen in Madhyamgram close to Kolkata airport.
Work is going on in full swing at the West Bengal Assembly to make arrangements for a possible cabinet meeting after the swearing-in ceremony of the new government on Saturday (May 9), a senior official said.
In the absence of any official communication, the Assembly secretariat is preparing the premises amid the possibility that the new cabinet members may come there after the swearing-in and hold their first meeting chaired by the new Chief Minister, the official told PTI.
The Writers’ Buildings, which is set to house the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) and several key departments, is undergoing renovation and maintenance. The building ceased to function as the state secretariat in 2013 after Mamata Banerjee shifted the secretariat to a new building named “Nabanna” just on the outskirts of the city.
Meanwhile, the TMC has issued show-cause notices to five of its spokespersons for allegedly making anti-party comments following its defeat in the assembly elections, party sources said.
The notices — served to Riju Dutta, Krishnendu Chowdhury, Kohinoor Majumdar, Papiya Ghosh and Kartik Ghosh — were asked why disciplinary action should not be taken against them for “violating party discipline.” The notices were issued by the party’s disciplinary committee, he said.
The move comes in the wake of the party’s poor performance in the recently concluded assembly elections, where the TMC won 80 seats while the BJP secured 207 seats. Following the electoral setback, several party leaders, former MLAs and spokespersons publicly questioned the role of the top leadership, triggering internal discontent within the party.
Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy on Friday demanded a court-monitored CBI investigation into the killing of party workers and incidents of vandalism in post-poll violence in West Bengal. Mr Roy said many party leaders and workers have fallen victim to post-result violence. Asked about the party’s loss, he said people may have been angry with the TMC, but the election was not impartial.
Mr Roy condemned the alleged murder Chandranath Rath in Madhyamgram and claimed that three other TMC workers were killed over the last three days.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday threw his weight behind the TMC and DMK, which faced rout in the Assembly polls, and took a jibe at the Congress, saying “we are not the ones who leave during difficult times.” Mr Yadav also posted on X photographs of his meeting with Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata and with DMK chief MK Stalin. “We are not the ones who leave (you) during the difficult times,” he said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Friday termed U.S. President Donald Trump’s congratulations to PM Narendra Modi over the West Bengal poll results “premature and misplaced,” asserting that State elections are an internal matter of India’s democracy.
In a post on X, where he tagged the U.S. President, Mr Raut urged the latter to adopt a “more informed and balanced view” about the elections, claiming serious concerns have emerged that the polls were held amid an atmosphere of fear, intimidation, and systemic pressure.
“As a Member of Parliament from India, I write in response to reports of your congratulations to PM Narendra Modi on the West Bengal Assembly election results. These are state-level elections — an internal matter of India’s federal democracy. Any external endorsement appears premature and misplaced,” Mr Raut wrote.
