Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday became the first chief minister from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal. He took the oath in Bengali in the name of God and later bowed before Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the ceremony.
Five BJP legislators were also sworn in as ministers, including Dilip Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul, Ashok Kirtania, Kshudiram Tudu and Nisith Pramanik.
The swearing-in ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, along with several senior NDA leaders and chief ministers from BJP-ruled states.
Adhikari strengthened his position in West Bengal politics after defeating Mamata Banerjee in the high-profile Bhabanipur assembly constituency.
The result marked a dramatic reversal in Bengal politics. In the 2021 assembly election, Banerjee left her traditional Bhabanipur seat to challenge Adhikari in Nandigram, where she lost by 1,956 votes despite her party returning to power in the state.
In the 2026 assembly election, Adhikari mirrored that strategy by contesting from Bhabanipur, widely regarded as Banerjee’s political stronghold. He won the seat by 15,105 votes, further strengthening his position within the BJP.
Adhikari also retained Nandigram, securing a third consecutive victory from the constituency. After the result, he described the mandate as support for the BJP’s political ideology.
A former senior leader in Banerjee’s party, Adhikari joined the BJP in December 2020 in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah ahead of the 2021 West Bengal assembly election. His switch was seen as one of the BJP’s most significant political gains in the state.
Adhikari rose to prominence during the 2007 Nandigram land agitation against a proposed chemical hub project linked to Indonesia’s Salim Group. The movement became a turning point in Bengal politics and contributed to the end of the Left Front’s 34-year rule in the state.
He also belongs to the influential Adhikari political family, which has maintained strong political influence across several districts of West Bengal.
#WestBengal #BJP #IndianPolitics
