On May 4, 2026, the political landscape of West Bengal took a drastic turn as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to a landslide victory in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, defeating the Trinamool Congress (TMC). With a massive victory of 207 seats, Suvendu Adhikari, once a close aide of Mamata Banerjee, is all set to take oath as the BJP’s first Chief Minister in the state on May 9, 2026.

Adhikari’s name had not always been associated with the saffron party. He was earlier linked with the Indian National Congress (INC) before switching to the TMC, where he served for more than two decades. From serving as the Transport Minister during Mamata Banerjee’s second term to now replacing her as the next Chief Minister of the state, Adhikari’s political career spans decades.

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Who is Suvendu Adhikari?

Born into a politically influential family, Suvendu Adhikari is the son of former Union Minister of State for Rural Development, Sisir Adhikari. Suvendu Adhikari is a Bengali Brahmin who was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Kanthi constituency in 2019. He completed his Master of Arts degree from Rabindra Bharati University in Kolkata.

Today, as he moves to become the Chief Minister of the state, Suvendu’s journey traces back to the 1990s, when he was a part of the INC. He served in the party from 1995 to 1998. Later, he joined his godmother party, the TMC, in 1998, where he gained recognition as a future political force who would eventually challenge the very party he was once a part of.

Suvendu Adhikari played a significant role in West Bengal’s Nandigram movement, which had a major impact on weakening the then Left Front government and advancing Mamata Banerjee’s TMC. In 2007, a protest took place in Nandigram village, led by Adhikari himself. The protest opposed the government’s plan to acquire over 10,000 acres of land for a special economic zone.

The Nandigram violence resulted in several deaths and casualties at the time. Several reports also alleged that Adhikari supplied weapons to Maoists for armed resistance during the Nandigram movement. The Nandigram resistance against the Left Front government was a major success, leading Mamata Banerjee to appoint Adhikari as the party’s in-charge for the Jangal Mahal region.

He emerged victorious in the 2016 West Bengal Assembly election, where he contested against Abdul Kabir Sekh of the CPI in the Nandigram constituency. Adhikari won by a margin of more than 80,000 votes. For years, Suvendu Adhikari was one of Mamata Banerjee’s closest aides, but he resigned from the TMC and joined the BJP in 2020.

After Adhikari’s landslide victory in the 2026 Assembly election, dethroning three-time Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, social media has been flooded with references to his political past and jibes at the protégé-turned-rival. Users on X began circulating screenshots from the Narada sting operation, in which the soon-to-be Chief Minister of West Bengal was allegedly seen accepting bribes.

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What was the Narada Sting Operation?

In 2014, the Narada news portal conducted a sting operation that exposed alleged corruption involving several ministers of the TMC government. The operation was planned by Mathew Samuel, former editor of the news magazine Tehelka.

Samuel created a fake identity and Aadhaar card and posed as a senior official from a bogus company based in Chennai. The 52-hour-long video footage allegedly showed several ministers and MPs, including Suvendu Adhikari and former Railway Minister Mukul Roy, accepting bribes in return for doing favours.

The video was even posted by the BJP on its YouTube channel, gaining over one lakh views, but was later deleted after Adhikari joined the BJP. Suvendu Adhikari will take oath as the BJP’s first Chief Minister of West Bengal at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata at 11 a.m. on May 9, 2026.

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