Suvendu Adhikari elected BJP legislature party leader in Bengal, set to become CM

BJP legislature party leader Suvendu Adhikari. File – Photo Credit: ANI

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that West Bengal “suffered a nightmare” for five decades under Trinamool in terms of law and order and economic development

Kolkata : Suvendu Adhikari was on Friday May 8, 2026 elected the leader of the BJP legislature party in West Bengal, and will take oath as the first BJP Chief Minister of West Bengal. The decision was taken at the BJP legislature meeting in Kolkata in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Suvendu Adhikari will be sworn in as the Chief Minister of Bengal on Saturday May 9, 2026 at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata.

Amit Shah , who presided over BJP legislature party meeting said that all the proposals were received in favour of Suvendu Adhikari.

Adhikari, 57, contested and won from both Nandigram and Bhabanipur seats in the recently concluded assembly polls. He defeated former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from Bhabanipur by a margin of 15, 115 votes.

He is all set to take oath as the CM on Saturday May 9 at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata in the presence of PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Chief Ministers of NDA-ruled States.

Hailing from Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari served as a Cabinet Minister in the Mamata Banerjee government from 2011 to 2020.

He has also been elected to Lok Sabha a number of times. Adhikari defected to BJP from Trinamool Congress in December 2020 and from 2021 to 2026 served as the Leader of Opposition.

He defeated Mamata Banerjee from Nandigram by a margin of 1956 votes in the 2021 Assembly elections.

West Bengal ‘suffered a nightmare’ under Trinamool: Amit Shah

Hitting out at the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government of West Bengal, Union Home Minister Amit Shah 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,” Amit Shah added.

Shah, addressing reporters after the BJP legislature party meeting in Kolkata 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 Syama Prasad Mookerjee is there, he would bless the Narendra Modi government.”