As West Bengal moves into the gap between polling and counting, discussions within the Bharatiya Janata Party have turned to who could be chief minister if the party forms the government, with a broad convergence on one point. The face will have to be a “pura” , ( complete) Bengali leader from within the party.
Exit polls released on April 29th and 30th, which unanimously suggested that the BJP will form the government in India’s Eastern state for the first time, have set off parallel strands of conversation across sections of the party. It is understood that the party will announce its CM candidate within one week if it wins on 4 May. Leaders and functionaries, both in the state unit and beyond, are informally weighing outcomes and the leadership each scenario would require.
In a tight mandate scenario, as some exit polls predicted, a section of leaders is backing Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari. Those arguing in his favour point to his existing political network, his experience with legislators who crossed over from the Trinamool Congress, and his ability to manage numbers in a potentially unstable assembly. At the same time, a different line of thinking is visible in conversations around a clearer majority outcome which will come into play if the BJP crosses 170 MLAs. In that situation, several leaders indicate a preference for a chief minister drawn from the BJP’s own organisational background rather than someone with a Trinamool past. The reasoning discussed informally is that a stronger mandate reduces dependence on defectors and allows the party to project its government as internally anchored.
Within that line of thinking, senior party leader Dilip Ghosh is frequently mentioned in internal discussions. His organisational background and role in building the party’s base in the state are cited by those backing him. Rajya Sabha member and former spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya is also spoken of as an acceptable option across factions, particularly among leaders who favour a low-conflict choice.
Other names continue to surface in these conversations without any clear consolidation. Locket Chatterjee is cited for her public visibility and the fact that the woman factor has likely played a key role in the BJP’s expected win. More significantly, the discussions are not limited to established faces. Several functionaries point to the inclusion of relatively lower-profile leaders in these exchanges, suggesting that the party’s internal churn is wider than the publicly visible field.
Former state president and Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar is also discussed in certain quarters as an organizationally aligned and acceptable compromise candidate. By selecting Samrat Choudhary as Chief Minister of Bihar, a candidate whose name had been in active contention for months, the party leadership has effectively dismantled its long-standing pattern of avoiding frontrunners or circulated names. This strategic pivot suggests a new preference for established visibility over the element of surprise. Consequently, party insiders close to the leadership believe this shift paves the way for Adhikari, whose profile has similarly gained significant traction. Given that the precedent for appointing high-visibility contenders has been set, those within his circle view him as having the strongest momentum for a future leadership role.
However, across these informal exchanges, one pattern is visible: Leaders with a Trinamool Congress background are more likely to find support in a tight numbers situation but see less backing in conversations around a decisive mandate. The party has so far not projected any chief ministerial face during the campaign. Home Minister Amit Shah has maintained that the chief minister will be a Bengali leader from within the party, which has ruled out multiple leaders who have roots in the neighbouring states of West Bengal.
