Kolkata: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took great care in selecting the five MLAs who were sworn in as ministers of the West Bengal Cabinet under chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday.
Dilip Ghosh is a strong contender of becoming the deputy chief minister of West Bengal and not without reason. From an RSS background, he is credited with having led the BJP’s initial successes in the state.
He was one of the three BJP MLAs to be elected in West Bengal in 2016. This was at a time when the party had no strong base in the state. Three years later, in 2019, the BJP won 18 of the 42 MP seats from West Bengal with a 40.25% vote share. This was when Ghosh was president of the state unit of the party.
It was Ghosh who steered the party from a non-entity to a prominent force in the state.
Agnimitra Paul is another leader who has worked hard for the BJP. An acclaimed fashion designer, she joined the party in 2019 and won the Asansol Dakshin seat in 2021.
Despite having suffered losses in Parliamentary elections, she persisted and was re-elected from Asansol Dakshin in 2026.
Her resilience has paid off when she is likely to take over as the second deputy chief minister of West Bengal. Not only is she the woman face of the BJP at a time when the party is promoting women’s reservation across the country and women’s safety in West Bengal, she also represents an important industrial zone, the development of which will be crucial for the resurgence of West Bengal.
The induction of Kshudiram Tudu into the Cabinet was also significant. A tribal, he won the Ranibandh seat in south Bengal’s Bankura by a massive 52,000 margin.
Over the last few years, the BJP has succeeded in reaching out to the state’s tribal population, both in the south and north. Tudu’s appointment is a positive signal that the party sent out to the community.
Ashok Kirtania was another important figure to be sworn in on Saturday. A member of the Matua community, he won the elections from Bongaon, close to the border with Bangladesh.
Most Matuas are migrants from erstwhile East Pakistan or modern day Bangladesh. Citizenship for many continues to remain an issue. The BJP has taken steps under the Citizenship Amendment Act to grant them citizenship.
And then there was Nisith Pramanik, the face of the party from north Bengal. That is a region where the BJP has succeeded in making inroads.
Pramanik, a former central minister, has been instrumental in leading the saffron surge in north Bengal, particularly among the Rajbanshis of Cooch Behar. In these elections, all seats in Cooch Behar were won by the BJP and Pramanik had an important role to play.
