New Delhi: Hours after BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari took oath as West Bengal’s first Bharatiya Janata Party chief minister since independence, Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee on Saturday called for a united opposition platform against the BJP at both the state and national levels.
Addressing party workers and supporters after the BJP officially formed government in Bengal, Banerjee reportedly appealed to all anti-BJP political forces to unite under a common platform.
As per reports, Banerjee accused the BJP of creating what she described as an atmosphere of political intimidation following the election results and urged opposition parties, student organisations and civil society groups to come together against the saffron party.
The former chief minister also hinted at a major legal challenge against the election outcome, claiming her party was prepared to fight the matter legally.
Banerjee said senior lawyers, including Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Prashant Bhushan and Menaka Guruswamy reportedly were in touch with her regarding the matter. She also referred to TMC MP and advocate Kalyan Banerjee while asserting that the party knew how to pursue the battle legally.
Banerjee, who herself holds a law degree, reportedly projected confidence about challenging the developments following the BJP’s landslide victory in the state.
The TMC supremo also claimed that several prominent opposition leaders from across the country had contacted her after the election results.
As per reports, Banerjee said she had spoken to Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, along with Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal.
Suvendu Adhikari officially assumed office on Saturday after the BJP registered a historic victory in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, ending the Trinamool Congress’ 15-year rule in the state.
Governor RN Ravi administered the oath of office at the Brigade Parade Ground ceremony, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, JP Nadda and Dharmendra Pradhan, along with several BJP chief ministers and senior party leaders.
Senior BJP leaders including Dilip Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul and Ashok Kirtania were also sworn in as cabinet ministers.
Calling it the beginning of a “Sonar Bangla” era, Adhikari said Bengal was entering a new phase of governance under a “double-engine government".
This comes days after Mamata Banerjee publicly refused to resign despite the BJP’s sweeping victory in the state elections.
The BJP secured 207 seats in the 294-member Assembly, while the TMC was reduced to 80 seats. However, Banerjee maintained that the electoral outcome did not reflect the “will of the people.”
“I will not resign. I did not lose, and I will not go to Raj Bhavan. The question simply does not arise,” Banerjee had said earlier.
“We did not lose this election; this was a forced attempt to defeat us. They may use the Election Commission to defeat us officially, but morally, we won,” she added.
Responding to Banerjee’s refusal to step down, Adhikari dismissed the controversy, saying the constitutional process would take its own course.
“Everything is mentioned in the Constitution. I need not say much,” he told reporters outside the BJP’s Kolkata office.
The BJP leader’s rise to the chief minister's office marks a dramatic political turnaround in Bengal politics.
Once one of Mamata Banerjee’s closest associates in the Trinamool Congress, Suvendu Adhikari played a crucial role in the 2007 Nandigram movement that weakened the Left Front government in Bengal.
He later emerged as one of the TMC’s strongest organisational leaders before breaking away from the party in 2020 amid growing tensions with the leadership.
After joining the BJP in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Adhikari became the saffron party’s principal face in Bengal politics. In the 2021 Assembly elections, he defeated Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram. In 2026, he went a step further by defeating her in Bhabanipur, considered Banerjee’s political stronghold, by over 15,000 votes.
The BJP’s victory in Bengal is being viewed as one of the biggest political upsets in recent Indian politics. After 34 years of Left rule and 15 years of Trinamool Congress governance, Bengal has now elected its first BJP government since independence.
