Leaders converge in Kolkata as Suvendu Adhikari set to take oath as Bengal’s first BJP CM

The arrivals began early, and they kept coming. Chief ministers, union ministers and senior BJP leaders converged on Kolkata on Saturday as Suvendu Adhikari prepared to take oath as West Bengal’s first BJP chief minister, capping a decisive electoral shift in the state.

Among those reaching the city were Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and Union Minister Jayant Chaudhary, each framing the moment as both political and symbolic.

Dhami, greeted by party workers on arrival, thanked supporters for the reception, while leaders across the BJP described the day as a turning point for the state.

“This is a historic day for both the BJP and the people of Bengal,” said Sanjay Saraogi, pointing to the scale of the mandate and the presence of top NDA leadership at the ceremony.

Rekha Gupta struck a sharper political note. “Today is the day for Bengal,” she told reporters, linking the transition to expectations of development and governance after years of what she described as misrule.

Chaudhary tied the moment to both mandate and momentum. “On this historic occasion, remembering Rabindranath Tagore and thanking the people of the state for a historic mandate… I expect the pace of development to go up,” he said, adding that the result would energise the wider NDA alliance.

Adhikari, elected leader of the BJP Legislative Party a day earlier, is set to be sworn in later on Saturday, formally ushering in the party’s first government in West Bengal.

The mandate underpinning the transition is emphatic. The Bharatiya Janata Party secured 207 seats in the 2026 Assembly elections, while the All India Trinamool Congress was reduced to 80 after 15 years in power.

Adhikari contested from Nandigram and Bhabanipur, defeating outgoing chief minister Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur by more than 15,000 votes, a result that signalled a sharp political shift.

The leadership decision was formalised on Friday when Union Home Minister Amit Shah, acting as central observer, announced Adhikari as leader of the BJP Legislative Party after chairing a meeting in Kolkata.

Senior leaders, including Rajnath Singh, J. P. Nadda and Dharmendra Pradhan, have also arrived in the city, with more expected through the day as Kolkata turns into the centre of a high-stakes political transition.

(With inputs from ANI)