BJP Legislature Party President Suvendu Adhikari. File | Photo credit: ANI
Newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs in West Bengal on Friday (May 8, 2026) unanimously elected Suvenda Adhikari as the head of their legislature party. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who chaired the meeting, said all the motions were passed in favor of Mr. Adhikari.
Accompanied by several leaders of the BJP’s state unit, including Dilip Ghosh, Locket Chatterjee and Tapas Roy, the Chief Minister-designate reached Lok Bhavan and met Governor RN Ravi to stake his claim to form the government. The BJP won 207 seats in the 294-member legislature, while the Trinamool Congress was reduced to 80 seats.
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Mr. Adhikari will take oath as the first Chief Minister of West Bengal BJP at a brigade parade in Kolkata on Saturday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several chief ministers of BJP and NDA-ruled states will attend the swearing-in ceremony.
Amid cheers from elected MLAs, Mr Adhikari said, “Bhoi (fear) is out and as Narendra Modiji said, bhorsa (faith) is in. “We will not settle for 46% votes and we will have to take 60% people with us in the next elections. We will ensure women’s safety, instill nationalism and make West Bengal the cultural capital of the country again,” he added.
Mr. Adhikari, 57, contested and won both Nandigram and Bhabanipur in the recently concluded assembly elections. He defeated former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur by a margin of 15,115 votes.
Hailing from Purba Medinipur district in West Bengal, Mr Adhikari served as a cabinet minister in Ms Banerjee’s government from 2016 to 2020. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Tamluk in the 2009 and 2014 elections. Mr. Adhikari defected to the BJP from Trinamool in December 2020 and served as Leader of the Opposition from 2021 to 2026. In the 2021 assembly elections, he defeated Ms. Banerjee in Nandigram by a margin of 1,956 votes.
Mr. Adhikari comes from a family of politicians. His father Sishir Adhikari served as the Union Minister of State for Rural Development during the second United Progressive Alliance government and was a member of the Kanthi Lok Sabha seat from 2009 to 2024.
Mr. Adhikari rose to political prominence in 2007 during the struggle against forcible land acquisition in Nandigram when the Left Front government was in power. He spread his influence across South Bengal and Central Bengal both during his tenure with the Trinamool and as the Leader of the Opposition.
His elevation also marks a significant development in West Bengal politics as the state gets a Chief Minister from its rural heartland after almost 55 years. The previous three chief ministers of the state – Mamata Banerjee, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Jyoti Basu – all hailed from Kolkata.
Addressing the elected MLAs, Mr Adhikari said his first task would be to fulfill the assurances Mr Modi had announced during the election campaign.
The chief minister-designate also announced plans to investigate allegations of corruption and crimes against women under the previous Trinamool regime. “The commission, headed by a former judge, will investigate all corruption cases. The commission will also investigate cases of atrocities against women and the culprits will be punished,” Mr. Adhikari said.
Published – 08 May 2026 17:23 IST
