Shah to chair meet today to decide BJP's first Bengal CM

NEW GOVT TO TAKE OATH ON MAY 9 IN PRESENCE OF PM MODI

- PRADIP CHATTERJEE

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 PM 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. He will then 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.