BJP names Suvendu Adhikari West Bengal chief minister

A former ally of Mamata Banerjee, the BJP leader will be West Bengal’s next chief minister.

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Suvendu Adhikari of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was a close aide of former chief minister Mamata Banerjee until their bitter falling out a few years ago. He was sworn in on Saturday in a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The BJP won 207 of the state's 294 assembly seats in Monday's vote counting, ending the 15-year rule of Banerjee's All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) and bringing the Hindu nationalist party to power in the state for the first time.

For years, Adhikari cultivated the image of a combative organiser with a sharp instinct for power and an ability to turn Bengal's shifting political currents to his advantage.

To supporters, he is the BJP's most recognisable face in West Bengal, a leader rooted in local networks and street-level politics rather than Delhi's political establishment.