After a record-breaking win in West Bengal, the question that looms over BJP leadership is who will the party pick as its chief ministerial candidate in the state.
Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated chief minister Mamata Banerjee in her home constituency Bhabanipur on Monday, has emerged as the front-runner.
This is not the first time Adhikari has defeated Banerjee. In 2021, he swept the Nandigram seat from her by 1,956 votes.
According to a senior BJP functionary, the party could “reward” him for it by giving him the top post.
On April 2, when Adhikari filed his nomination papers from Kolkata’s Bhabanipur seat, Union home minister Amit Shah accompanied him, indicating the party’s top brass was behind him.
Another senior BJP leader pointed out that unlike the Lok Sabha polls, the party never fielded any candidate from two assembly seats in recent history.
“For Adhikari, this was a test of his charisma and capability as leader of the opposition,” the leader said, also declining to be named.
BJP leaders, however, said the party has not ruled out names of state unit chief Samik Bhattacharya and vice-president Agnimitra Paul as other probable CM faces.
Paul could become an ideal candidate for the top post should the party decide to back a woman CM. Paul was a Lok Sabha MP from 2019 to 2024.
Samik Bhattacharya, the functionaries pointed out, could be considered as under his leadership the party won the first assembly polls in Bengal.
Bhattacharya is currently a member of the Rajya Sabha.
