West Bengal Govt Formation: Amit Shah in Kolkata, Suvendu likely CM with two DyCMs — one woman
The Statesman | 9 May 2026
As Union Home Minister and chief architect of BJP’s West Bengal election blitz that has brought the saffron party to power in the state for the first time ever arrived in Kolkata in the role of central observer for the legislature party meeting that will elect the chief minister, rumours have flown thick and fast as to the probable names who would helm the government.
According to BJP sources, Suvendu Adhikari, second only to Shah in scripting the BJP’s massive landslide in West Bengal, is the likely frontrunner for the position of the chief minister, but the party might have some other plans too in order to bolster its vote-banks for the future consolidation of the victory.
Sources in the know indicated that the party might go for a couple of deputy chief ministers, one of them being a woman, since the BJP has trounced Mamata Banerjee. It is in the logic of things, said sources, that a woman be given a prominent position in the government, all the more since the women’s outreach of the BJP this election season in West Bengal resulted in massive support for the saffron outfit from this section of the electorate.
Moreover, a woman deputy chief minister is also a strong possibility, keeping the party’s past moves in Delhi.
Party sources also indicate that Suvendu Adhikari as chief minister, party veteran Dilip Ghosh and Agnimitra Paul as the two deputy chief ministers could be the working formula for the West Bengal government, at least, at this point in time.
But, all sources also underline the caveat of the party high command also pulling a surprise at the last moment.
Meanwhile, Shah arrived at an astounding welcome in Kolkata. “I bow to the people of Bengal for scripting history. We are resolved to fulfilling your aspirations,” Shah wrote on X (formerly Twitter), posting a video of a huge crowd waving to him.
Earlier, West Bengal unit chief Samik Bhattacharya received Shah at the airport.
The BJP scripted history in the recently concluded West Bengal elections 2026, routing the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) and delivering the worst ever political defeat to Mamata Banerjee. Suvendu Adhikari, just as in 2021 West Bengal elections, trounced Banerjee in Bhabanipur. This is the second straight defeat of Banerjee at the hands of Suvendu Adhikari. Last time, Adhikari had defeated her in her bastion in Nandigram.