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Kolkata: Having served as the Leader of Opposition and the Leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari is all set to swear in as the new Chief Minister of the state.

BJP won the 2026 state Assembly elections, defeating Mamata Banerjee‘s All India Trinamool Congress, with Banerjee losing her stronghold Bhabanipur constituency to Adhikari.

Adhikari was on Friday was elected the leader of the BJP legislature party in West Bengal, paving the way for him to become the first BJP chief minister of the state.

BJP sources said Adhikari’s name was proposed at the legislature party meeting in Kolkata and formally announced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the presence of newly elected BJP MLAs and senior party leaders.

The swearing-in ceremony of the new BJP government will be held at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata on May 9, PTI reported.

Rise from Trinamool Congress

Despite being recognised as a prominent figure within the BJP, Adhikari previously advanced through political ranks as a member of TMC.

He initially served as a councillor from the Indian National Congress in the Kathi Municipality in 1995 and remained in Congress until 1998. He switched to Trinamool Congress after it was established by Mamata Banerjee, becoming one of the first leaders to join the party.

The now-political rivals worked closely together for years, with Adhikari’s 2007 anti-land acquisition movement in Nandigram catapulting Banerjee onto the state’s political centre stage. It was highly criticised, as the state Crime Investigation Department alleged that Adhikari had provided Maoists with arms to wage an armed movement against the then ruling Left Front state government.

The previous year, he simultaneously served as an MLA from East Midnapore’s Dakshin Kanthi constituency and the chairman of the Kanthi Municipality.

Following his success in Nandigram, Banerjee appointed him as the party observer in Paschim Medinipur, Purulia and Bankura districts, where he expanded the party’s base. He was subsequently elected as an MP from the Tamluk constituency, winning by a staggering 1.7 lakh votes against Lakshman Seth of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

He consistently won the Nandigram seat and later climbed the ladder to take oath as the Minister of Transport in the second Mamata Banerjee ministry in 2016.

Then came 2020, when rifts began to appear between Adhikari and his role in TMC.

Shocking switch to BJP in 2020

Adhikari began stepping down from his official roles in late November 2020, and his resignation as the MLA of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly was formally approved on December 21.

Before he made any decisive moves, discussions around him were already pointing to a possible split between him and the TMC leadership. He was reported as “avoiding” government and public addresses and party programmes. He even made a cryptic remark saying, “In 1995, I was councillor of an undivided Congress. I did not drop in using a parachute nor did I take a lift. I took the stairs, step by step.”

The deteriorating relationship was mainly attributed to Abhishek Banerjee, Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, who was steadily staking claim to the role of her heir-apparent.

Adhikari was announced as the leader of the West Bengal Assembly’s BJP unit on May 10.

History of communal remarks

Following his shift to the BJP, Adhikari’s stance became stark with his advocacy for stricter measures against illegal infiltration in Bengal, emphasising a clearer distinction between Indian Muslims and “foreign infiltrators.” He accused TMC of helping the foreigners with their settlement and claimed the party’s policy had facilitated inclusion of such infiltrators in the voter list.

Adhikari has continued making communal remarks targeting Muslims. In January 2026, the BJP leader reportedly told villagers to “completely separate out jihadi fundamentalists from Hindus.”

After he won the Nandigram constituency yet again in the 2026 polls, he vowed to work “only for the Hindus” who voted for him.

“Nandigram ka Hindu janta phir mujhe jitaya. Waha musalmaan vote pura ka pura TMC ko mila. Yeh log bhot kattarvadi hai. Mai Nandigram ke Hindu ke liye kaam karunga (The Hindu people of Nandigram have elected me once again. There, the entire Muslim vote went to the TMC. They are highly radicalised, so I am fine with my mark. I will work for the Hindus of Nandigram),” Adhikari told reporters while celebrating the win.

His win against Mamata in the 2026 elections marked a historic moment as an incumbent Chief Minister was not defeated in their own seat by a candidate running in two constituencies since 1967.