Shafaqna India: The first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in West Bengal will be sworn in at the Brigade Parade Ground here on May 9, heralding a saffron era in the eastern state that had long eluded the pan-Indian powerhouse.
Although who the next chief minister will be is still a mystery, Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari is being seen as the frontrunner while the names of state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya, Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar and former Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta are also in the mix, party insiders said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president Nitin Nabin, several Union ministers and chief ministers of BJP- and NDA-ruled states are expected to attend the oath ceremony, with indications emerging that the Central leadership is inclined towards picking a “bhumiputra” face rooted in Bengal’s linguistic and cultural ethos to head the government.
“The new BJP government will take oath on May 9 at 10 am at Brigade Parade Ground,” the party’s state president Bhattacharya announced on Wednesday.
Adhikari offered prayers at a Hanuman statue in Nandigram and paid his respects to the BJP workers who died in political violence during the party’s long struggle to come to power in the state.
