Suvendu Adhikari Or Someone Else? These Are Bengal Chief Minister Frontrunners

Now that West Bengal is firmly under the BJP's control for the first time following its historic win in the assembly election, the next key decision of the party would be to decide on who would lead the state as chief minister.

Three names are doing the rounds, according to political analysts. They are Suvendu Adhikari, Agnimitra Paul, and Roopa Ganguly. Here are some details about the three leaders, one of whom will take the state from where Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee had left it.

Suvendu Adhikari

Suvendu Adhikari has earned the name "giant killer" after he defeated Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur seat by over 15,000 votes. The setback is particularly bitter for Mamata Banerjee because Suvendu Adhikari - during his time with the Trinamool before he joined the BJP - played the role of an aide to her.

From a trusted protege, Adhikari reinvented himself as a strong challenger to the same leader he once admired. In the process, he reshaped his own political destiny and won the trust of the BJP's top leadership.

Adhikari's biggest political call was to take on Mamata Banerjee in the 2021 assembly election, where his victory in Nandigram propelled him to prominence. Trained in RSS shakhas during his formative years, he entered formal politics in the late 1980s as a member of the Chatra Parishad, the Congress's student wing.

His first brush with electoral politics came in 1995 when he got elected as a councilor of Kanthi municipality, which his father, Sisir Adhikari, headed from 1967 to 2009. In 1999, Adhikari along with his father switched over to the Trinamool Congress barely a year after it was formed.

Agnimitra Paul

Agnimitra Paul, the BJP MLA from Asansol Dakshin constituency, joined the BJP in 2019 and soon became the chief of the party's Mahila Morcha. She has organised self-defence training workshops for women in 23 districts. Described as a firebrand leader, she entered the West Bengal assembly for the first time in 2021 after defeating Trinamool candidate Saayoni Ghosh.

In January this year, she was appointed vice-president of the BJP in Bengal. She is married to entrepreneur Partho Paul, and they are parents to two children. Before entering politics, Agnimitra Paul was a well-known fashion designer and entrepreneur in Kolkata. She started her fashion brand called 'Inga' and designed clothes for Bollywood films such as Koi Mere Dil Se Poochhe and Via Darjeeling.

Roopa Ganguly

Roopa Ganguly won from Sonarpur Dakshin assembly seat, defeating the Trinamool's Arundhati Maitra by over 35,000 votes. She is well-known for playing Draupadi in BR Chopra's epic TV series Mahabharat.

She joined the BJP in 2015. She served as a Rajya Sabha MP from 2016 to 2022.