Bengal CM Announcement LIVE Updates: BJP's giant slayer Suvendhu Adhikari on Friday was elected as 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.
Adhikari's name was proposed by Bengal BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya and senior party leader Dilip Ghosh and was accepted by all 207 recently elected MLAs present in the meeting at Biswa Bangla Convention Centre in Kolkata.
The BJP has already announced that the oath-taking ceremony of the new CM will be held on Saturday at 11 am at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata, which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Nitin Nabin and chief ministers of NDA-ruled states.
Meanwhile, if media reports are to be believed, Suvendu may get two deputy CMs, with one of them a woman. Among the frontrunners for the woman deputy CM post, BJP MLA from Asansol Dakshin, Agnimitra Paul, is leading the race, while Siliguri MLA Shankar Ghosh is reportedly considered for the second deputy CM post.
Bengal CM Announcement Updates:
- Suvendu will be the first BJP Chief Minister of West Bengal after the saffron party defeated TMC in the recently concluded Assembly election, ending Mamata Banerjee's 15-year rule.
- With his election as the legislature party leader, Suvendu Adhikari will be sworn in as the new West Bengal Chief Minister on Saturday.
- Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday announced that Suvendu Adhikari has been elected as the BJP's legislature party leader after all MLAs extended support to him during the BJP legislative party meeting in Kolkata.
- According to a report by AajTak, Samik Bhattacharya has proposed the name of Suvendu Adhikari as the new Chief Minister. However, the announcement will be made after the meeting.
- The BJP legislative party meeting begins in Kolkata to elect the new chief minister of West Bengal. BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari is among the frontrunners for the CM race.
- The BJP legislative party meeting at the Biswa Bangla Convention Centre in Kolkata's New Town is scheduled to start at around 4 pm today.
- After arriving in Kolkata, Amit Shah visited the Dakshineswar Kali Temple and offered prayers. After offering puja at the shrine, he went to a hotel in New Town, where he will stay during the two-day visit.
- Shah was received at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, among others.
- Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrived in Kolkata on Friday morning to attend the BJP's legislature party meeting, in which its leader will be elected.
- Though the BJP has not officially announced its chief ministerial choice, Adhikari has emerged as the frontrunner after securing two of the most politically significant victories -- retaining Nandigram, where he defeated Banerjee in 2021, and now wresting Bhabanipur, long regarded as the TMC supremo's pocket borough.
- According to party insiders, Adhikari's victory from Bhabanipur by over 15,000 votes is being viewed within the BJP as both a symbolic and strategic turning point in Bengal politics.
- Other names being discussed within the BJP circles include state party president Samik Bhattacharya and former Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta, who won the Rashbehari seat.
- Governor RN Ravi dissolved the assembly on Thursday, paving the way for the formation of the new government.