West Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari oath ceremony LIVE updates: Mamata urges anti-BJP parties, including Left, to ‘come together & fight’

The swearing-in ceremony, administered by Governor RN Ravi started at 11 AM at the iconic Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata. The Parade ground has long defined Bengal’s political arena through mass rallies. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP National President Nitin Nabin, Union Ministers, and Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states are attending the swearing-in function today. The optics say it all – this is the BJP’s biggest win in the east and Delhi is turning up in full strength to mark the moment. The BJP chose Rabindra Jayanti – May 9, the birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore – for the ceremony. This is a deliberate cultural signal to the voters who chose the BJP.

New Postings: Later in the day, Retired IAS officer Subrata Gupta was appointed the adviser to West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari while Shantanu Bala (IAS) ADM, South 24 Parganas, was appointed as private secretary to Adhikari.

Suvendu Adhikari was unanimously chosen by the Bengal MLAs at a BJP meeting on Friday. There was no second namen proposed, Amit Shah said. Adhikari’s story is nothing short of dramatic. A former TMC insider, Suvendu broke with Mamata Banerjee and crossed over to the BJP. And then he went on to beat her on her own turf. Adhikari contested from both Nandigram and Bhabanipur, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s bastion. He defeated her in her own stronghold by a margin of over 15,000 votes. The BJP won 207 out of 293 seats in the West Bengal elections. The TMC, on the other hand, fell to just 80 seats. It was a rout.