From land activist to TMC leader & BJP’s likely CM face: The rise & rise of Suvendu

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s massive victory in the West Bengal Assembly polls came despite not having a state face. Yet, the spotlight automatically turned to Suvendu Adhikari, Mamata Banerjee’s lieutenant-turned-bete noire who boarded a flight to Delhi as saffron celebrations broke out across the state on May 4.

Suvendu, who retained Nandigram and pulled off the biggest upset of the polls defeating Mamata in her home turf of Bhabanipur, symbolised BJP’s aggressive campaign that sought to box the chief minister in on “Trinamool goondas” and “politics of Muslim appeasement”, ultimately helping decimate the party his father, Sisir Adhikari, had helped form.