Suvendu Adhikari to be West Bengal’s new CM: How BJP used Mamata loyalist to complete its Ang-Bang-Kalinga trilogy
Both leaders were once trusted lieutenants within rival regional parties. Both left following internal power struggles. And both later became the BJP’s most powerful weapons against its old political homes.
From Mamata loyalist to the Bengal face of the BJP
For years, Suvendu Adhikari was considered one of Mamata Banerjee’s closest aides in the All India Trinamool Congress. He played a key role in strengthening the TMC in rural Bengal, especially in East Midnapore.
But his differences with the party leadership widened over time, eventually pushing Adhikari from TMC to the BJP ahead of the crucial Bengal elections.
What initially seemed like a risky political move quickly became a major breakthrough for the BJP. Adhikari emerged as the most aggressive face of the saffron party in Bengal and helped expand its influence deep into TMC strongholds.
His ascension as Prime Minister now marks the BJP’s biggest ever success in Bengal politics.
Assam model
The Bengal story closely mirrors what happened earlier in Assam with Himanta Biswa Sarma. Sarma, once a close aide of senior Congress leader and former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, left the Congress due to leadership differences and joined the BJP in 2015.
His entry changed the fortunes of the BJP in the Northeast. Sarma brought organizational strength, political networks and regional influence that the BJP did not have before in Assam.
The BJP soon put an end to the Congress’s long rule in the state, with Sarma eventually becoming the Prime Minister and one of the most influential eastern leaders of the BJP.
BJP’s Ang, Bang, Kalinga plan
What once seemed like an ambitious political dream for the BJP has now become one of the biggest milestones in Eastern India. With the party capturing power in West Bengal in 2026, the BJP has effectively completed its long-chased “Anga-Banga-Kalinga” political map covering Bihar, Bengal and Odisha.
The Bengal victory is much more than just another electoral success. This represents the culmination of a broader expansion strategy that began after Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014. Over the last decade, the BJP has steadily advanced into areas where the party once had little organizational presence or ideological influence.
The latest victory also signals a major political comeback for the saffron party. After facing setbacks in the Lok Sabha elections and seeing its parliamentary numbers decline, the BJP managed to gain momentum by winning decisive victories at the state level in the East.
The first major breakthrough came in 2024 in Odisha, when the BJP ended Naveen Patnaik’s long rule. This victory was followed by another strong performance in Bihar, where the NDA maintained its strength and BJP leader Samrat Choudhary emerged as a prominent face in state politics after years of dominance by Nitish Kumar.
The Bengal victory now completes the party’s eastern push and marks perhaps its most politically symbolic victory, defeating Mamata Banerjee and the All India Trinamool Congress in one of the BJP’s toughest battlegrounds.
From three forces to a spindle machine
The political expansion of the BJP over the last decade has dramatically changed India’s electoral landscape. In 2014, the party’s influence was largely concentrated in the Indian heartland and western India. However, by 2026, the BJP and its allies had spread over a large part of the country and ruled states that together constituted a large portion of India’s population and geography.
Political observers say the transformation is not just about the number of states under BJP rule, but also about the party’s ability to establish itself in culturally and politically diverse regions that were once considered difficult territory.
Bengal became the last frontier
For the BJP leadership, West Bengal was of both strategic and symbolic importance. Despite rapid gains in previous elections, the state had remained under Mamata Banerjee’s control for over a decade.
The BJP’s breakthrough is seen as the culmination of a sustained campaign led by senior party strategist Amit Shah, who has repeatedly declared that the BJP will one day rule “Anga, Banga and Kalinga”.
This slogan now seems to have turned into political reality.
At one of his campaign rallies in Bengal, Shah had confidently predicted the fall of the Trinamool Congress government and said it would be “all the way, goodbye to Didi” when the counting begins. Critics at the time dismissed these statements as campaign rhetoric. However, following the BJP’s victory, these statements are being reconsidered as a sign of the party’s confidence in its long-term eastern strategy.
The Bengal victory also builds on earlier gains in the east. The rise of the BJP in Odisha and its consolidation in Bihar created the momentum that helped the party overcome Bengal, long seen as one of the last major obstacles to the BJP’s dominance in eastern India.
