BJP chooses Suvendu Adhikari as West Bengal’s next Chief Minister

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday officially announced Suvendu Adhikari as the next Chief Minister of West Bengal, marking the beginning of the state’s first-ever Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government since Independence. 

The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Shah with newly elected BJP legislators following the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly elections, the results of which were declared on May 4. 

The oath-taking ceremony will be held on Saturday, HM Shah said.

In the meeting, Adhikari’s name was officially endorsed as the leader of the BJP’s legislature party in the West Bengal Assembly, which means that he will be the next Chief Minister of the state.

“The process of selecting the leader of the party’s legislative party in the state assembly has been completed. A total of eight proposals were received. In all the proposals, there was just one name. Enough time was given for any proposal for a second name. But no second name was proposed. So, I proposed the name of Suvendu Adhikari as the next Chief Minister of West Bengal,” HM Shah said in the meeting.

Adhikari, as the leader of the BJP’s legislature party in the state assembly, will go to the Lok Bhaban this evening, meet the Governor, R.N. Ravi, and stake the claim to form the next government in West Bengal. The oath ceremony of the new cabinet administered by the Governor will be conducted at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

This time, Adhikari got elected simultaneously from his native Nandigram assembly constituency in East Midnapore district and Bhabanipur assembly constituency in South Kolkata. At Bhabanipur, he defeated his predecessor and the former Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, by a margin of over 15,000 votes.

Adhikari first earned the ‘giant‑killer’ tag in the 2021 Assembly elections after defeating Banerjee from Nandigram. With his latest victory, he has once again unseated her, consolidating his position as the unanimous choice to lead the BJP’s first government in the state.

Picture Courtesy: X/ Amit Shah