Suvendu Adhikari takes oath as West Bengal CM

• Suvendu Adhikari took oath as West Bengal’s first BJP Chief Minister on May 9.

• Governor R.N. Ravi administered the oath of office and secrecy to Adhikari at the Brigade Parade Grounds in Kolkata.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Chief Ministers of NDA-ruled states attended the event.

• The BJP secured 207 seats in the 294-member Assembly in the elections, ending the Trinamool Congress’ 15-year rule.

Who is Suvendu Adhikari?

• He was born on December 15, 1970 in Karkuli village in Purba Medinipur district to veteran politician Sisir Adhikari and Gayatri Adhikari.

• His formative years were marked by his primary and secondary education at Contai High School before pursuing an undergraduate degree in Arts from Prabhat Kumar College in the same region.

• He later earned a Master’s degree in History from Kolkata’s Rabindra Bharati University.

• Adhikari began his political career in the Congress’s student wing Chhatra Parishad during the peak of Left dominance in Bengal politics.

• He served as minister of transport from May 2016 to November 2020 and also a minister of the environment department from 2018 to 2020 in the erstwhile Mamata Banerjee cabinet.

• The 55-year-old was Mamata Banerjee’s closest political aide and organisational troubleshooter.

• He switched camps from the Trinamool to the BJP in December 2020.

• Adhikari was leader of opposition in the state for five years and emerged as the principal challenger to the regime of Mamata Banerjee.

• Adhikari positioned himself at the forefront of the BJP’s campaign against the government’s policies and legislations.

• Adhikari steadily cultivated the image of a combative opposition leader who remained at the forefront of virtually every major BJP agitation in Bengal.

• He won from both Bhabanipur and Nandigram constituencies in the elections.