Historic moment: Shah to chair meeting today on BJP’s first Bengal Chief Minister pick

MP, May 8, 2026, Kolkata: As Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrives in Kolkata on Friday afternoon to chair a meeting with the BJP’s 207 newly elected MLAs and finalise the name of the BJP Chief Minister of a BJP government in West Bengal, it marks the culmination of the party’s long political journey from the fringes of the state’s ideological landscape to the centre of power.

The BJP’s rise in Bengal has been driven by years of organisational expansion, cultural repositioning, high-profile defections, polarising campaigns and hard-fought street battles in a region long considered resistant to its politics.

This is Shah’s first trip to West Bengal since the BJP’s landslide victory in the 2026 Assembly polls.

He will also oversee arrangements for the oath-taking ceremony of the Chief Minister and other Cabinet ministers, scheduled to be held in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 9.

In his presence, the BJP’s newly elected MLAs will choose their legislative party leader.

Shah is also expected to attend the swearing-in ceremony on Saturday.

The Home Ministry has officially released Amit Shah’s schedule. It confirms he is on a two-day visit to West Bengal, arriving on Friday.

He will fly back to Delhi right after the BJP’s swearing-in ceremony on Saturday.

According to the Union Home Minister’s official schedule, he will leave his Krishna Menon Marg residence at 10:15 am on Friday and head to Delhi’s Palam airport.

His flight to Kolkata is at 10:40 am, with a landing time of 12:40 pm.

Shah will reach the hotel in New Town around 1 pm.

After reaching at 1 pm and taking a short break, Shah will get into meetings with party leaders and workers to select the legislative party head. These discussions could go on till 8 pm.

Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi will also be accompanying Shah on this visit.

Shah was appointed as the BJP’s central observer with Mohan Charan Majhi serving as co-observer.

Amid growing speculation, Suvendu Adhikari has emerged as the frontrunner for the Chief Minister’s post ahead of the legislature party meeting scheduled for May 8.

Sources within the BJP said that the possibility of a tribal face is also being considered alongside the names of Adhikari and others, as the BJP has secured 38 out of the 40 Assembly seats in the Jangalmahal region.

Apart from Adhikari, names such as state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya, Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar and former Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta have surfaced in political discussions.

The rise of Adhikari carries with it layers of political irony unique to Bengal politics.

The man who once stood beside Mamata Banerjee during the Nandigram land agitation that dismantled the Left Front’s 34-year rule is now positioned at the centre of the BJP’s own “poribartan” moment against the very party he helped build.

For many in the BJP, that political arc has become emblematic of the changing grammar of Bengal politics itself.

“I was part of the 2011 ‘poribartan’, and now I am part of the real change,” he told supporters, while announcing that he would vacate one of the two seats within 10 days after consultations with the party leadership.

Sources said that Shah will leave his New Town hotel at 10:35 am on Saturday and is expected to arrive at the Brigade Parade Ground by 10:55 am.

The BJP’s swearing-in ceremony on Saturday is expected to wrap up by 12:20 pm.

He will depart from Brigade at 12:20 pm and head straight to Kolkata airport for his 12:45 pm flight back to Delhi.

Over the last decade, the BJP has steadily attempted to reinterpret Bengal’s icons — from Tagore and Swami Vivekananda to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Syama Prasad Mookerjee — as part of a broader ideological effort to expand its emotional footprint beyond traditional electoral polarisation.

Yet beneath the triumphalism, the BJP leadership remains conscious of the volatile atmosphere accompanying the transition of power.

However, the killing of Adhikari’s aide Chandranath Rath in North 24-Parganas this week has cast a shadow over the celebrations, sharpening the political acrimony that has marked Bengal’s post-poll landscape.