Political career

Suvendu Adhikari (born 15 December 1970) is an Indian politician who has served as the 9th chief minister of West Bengal since 2026. He is the first chief minister of the state from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

He began his political career in the Indian National Congress in 1995 and later joined Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress in 1998. He was first elected to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from Kanthi Dakshin in 2006. He served as the member of Parliament for Tamluk from 2009 to 2016, then returned to the state legislature in 2016, representing Nandigram.

Adhikari served as a minister in the second Mamata Banerjee-led state government, overseeing the Transport department from 2016 to 2020 and later also the Irrigation and Water Resources and Environment departments. He resigned from the Trinamool Congress and the state cabinet in 2020, citing disagreements, and joined the BJP. He was re-elected in the 2021 assembly election, defeating Banerjee.

Chief ministership

After the 2026 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, Adhikari was sworn in as chief minister on 9 May 2026, leading the Suvendu Adhikari ministry.

Response to Durga Puja stampede

In news coverage of a stampede during Durga Puja in Kolkata, Adhikari, as chief minister, visited Kolkata Medical College and Hospital and announced an investigation by a Special Investigation Team headed by a judge of the state High Court.

Family

He is the son of Sisir Kumar Adhikari, an Indian politician and former Union Minister of State for Rural Development, and the brother of Soumendu Adhikari, a Lok Sabha member from Kanthi.