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Suvendu Adhikari has been appointed as West Bengal’s first BJP Chief Minister, capping a long political journey from a TMC heavyweight to Mamata Banerjee’s fiercest rival.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah with West Bengal CM-elect Suvendu Adhikari. (BJP)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday announced that Suvendu Adhikari would take the helm of the first BJP government in West Bengal, capping a long political journey that began as a rising star in the Trinamool Congress (TMC) to a “giant-killer” that brought down Mamata Banerjee in her own fortress.
Over a decade ago, Adhikari was once seen as a potential heir to the TMC after Mamata Banerjee, having helped the TMC rise to power to end the Left Front’s 34-year reign in Bengal. After a bitter fallout in 2019, Adhikari swiftly became one of Banerjee’s fiercest political rivals and vowed to topple the TMC regime.
Cut to 2026, Adhikari stands vindicated as he successfully defeated Mamata Banerjee twice, once in his home turf of Nandigram in 2021, and the second – the most consequential – in Bhabanipur this year, with a massive margin of 15,000 votes. Adhikari stood well at the centre of yet another tectonic shift in Bengal politics, bringing a new era of governance.
From Congress To TMC Star
Suvendu comes from the influential Adhikari family in the Medinipur region. The family, comprising former TMC MP Sisir Adhikari and his sons Suvendu, Dibyendu and Soumendu, have long dominated the politics of Purba Medinipur and surrounding districts.
Suvendu started his political career with the Congress as a student, and joined the TMC around 2000, two years after Mamata Banerjee formed the party. Suvendu’s organisational ability helped the TMC form a solid base for the TMC that would later become the biggest headache for a declining Left Front. In 2006, he was elected to the West Bengal Assembly from the Kanthi Dakshin seat.
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His most prominent role in the TMC came during the Nandigram anti-land acquisition movement. Suvendu played a key role in organising the protests against the Left’s efforts to acquire 10,000 acres of land in Nandigram to set up a special economic zone, which catapulted Mamata Banerjee into prominence.
With his success in Nandigram, Suvendu Adhikari became one of Mamata Banerjee’s most trusted lieutenants and expanded the TMC’s influence beyond Purba Medinipur to Paschim Medinipur, Purulia and Bankura districts.
A Fallout That Changed Bengal
After winning from Kanthi in 2006, Suvendu was elected to the Lok Sabha after defeating CPI(M) heavyweight Lakshman Seth from the Tamluk seat. He managed to retain the seat in 2014, but later resigned as MP to become a minister in the second Mamata Banerjee government after defeating Abdul Kadir Sheikh in Nandigram during the 2016 assembly elections.
Suvendu Adhikari possessed every bit of Mamata Banerjee’s ‘street fighter’ capabilities, with his grassroots strength and visible on-ground presence helping the TMC to extend beyond its traditional bastions and make inroads into previous Congress strongholds like Malda and Murshidabad.
READ MORE: Who Will Attend BJP CM Suvendu Adhikari’s Swearing-In In Kolkata Tomorrow
All of this changed when Mamata Banerjee chose her nephew Abhishek as her second-in-command, a move that greatly irked Suvendu. He resigned as West Bengal’s Transport Minister in 2020 and decided to move to the BJP, a consequential shift in Bengal politics.
Mamata Banerjee’s Fiercest Rival
Suvendu Adhikari left no holds barred as he took on the Mamata Banerjee-led government over corruption, extortion, economic decline and law and order issues. Suvendu leveraged his deep understanding of the inner workings of the TMC to turn the electoral contest into an intensely personal one.
In 2021, despite the BJP’s defeat to the TMC, Adhikari managed to defeat Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram by 1,956 votes, which catapulted him to national prominence. Sensing potential, the BJP appointed him as the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, where he did not relent in his fight against the TMC.
Adhikari became the face of the BJP’s relentless campaign against the third TMC government, with his refusal to attend key Nabanna meetings highlighting just how the BJP was determined to end Banerjee’s reign. In 2026, the defeat of Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur, once considered an impregnable TMC fortress, capped a hard-fought political journey of a former student who finally became the master.
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