Samik Bhattacharya indicated a rethink on land acquisition, SEZs, and contract farming while assuring businesses of a more industry-friendly environment
Mamata Banerjee’s stronghold falls as the Bharatiya Janata Party secures a historic win in West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026. What drove this massive shift? From voter trends to market reaction
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to form the government in West Bengal, winning 206 of 294 seats. Trinamool Congress (TMC) reduced to 81 seats.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA secures a big win in Assam, with Himanta Biswa Sarma set for a second term as Chief Minister. Meanwhile, in Kerala
Counting for the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections is in its final stages, with the Bharatiya Janata Party crossing the majority mark and heading for a historic win. Mamata Banerjee loses in Bhabani
Vote counting across West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, and Puducherry has concluded, bringing major political shifts. The Bharatiya Janata Party sweeps West Bengal
The CBI took over the probe into the killing of West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari's aide Chandranath Rath, officials said on Tuesday. The agency constituted a seven-member Special Investigation Team (SIT), comprising seasoned officers from multiple states, to probe the killing that rocked the state two days after the BJP won a landslide mandate in the assembly elections. The CBI team is expected to arrive here later in the day, officials said. The central probe agency has also re-registered the FIR earlier lodged by the police, they said, adding that a DIG-rank officer is heading the SIT. "The CBI took over the investigation on Monday night and formed a multi-disciplinary team to ensure a comprehensive and time-bound investigation into the case. All possible angles, including interstate criminal links and conspiracy, are being examined. The CBI SIT will now focus on unravelling the larger conspiracy behind the murder," a senior official said. Rath was shot dead in ...
Himanta Biswa Sarma was sworn in as the chief minister of Assam for the second consecutive term on Tuesday. Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya administered the oath of office to Sarma at a grand ceremony held at the Veterinary Ground in Khanapara area in Guwahati. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Sarbananda Sonowal, Pabitra Margherita, chief ministers and deputy chief ministers of BJP-ruled states and BJP president Nitin Nabin were present at the swearing-in ceremony. The swearing-in ceremony marks the formation of the third successive NDA government in the state. Sarma's mother Mrinalini Devi, wife Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, son Nandil Biswa Sarma and daughter Sukanya Sarma were also present on the occasion. The NDA won a record 102 MLAs of the 126-member assembly, including 82 from the BJP. The BJP allies, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Bodoland Peoples' Front (BPF), bagged 10 seats each.
BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma will take oath as chief minister of Assam on Tuesday, along with four ministers two from the saffron party and one each from its allies AGP and BPF. This will be the third NDA government in Assam, to be led by Sarma as the chief minister for the second consecutive term, the only non-Congress CM to achieve the feat in the state. Former minister and senior BJP leader Ranjeet Kumar Dass will be the NDA's candidate for the position of Speaker of the state Assembly, Sarma said in a post on X. "Happy to announce that the following four colleagues of mine will take oath as Ministers tomorrow along with me in the august presence of Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi Ji - Shri Rameswar Teli Shri Atul Bora Shri Charan Boro Smt Ajanta Neog," the CM-designate said. Bora is the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) president and Boro is a Bodoland People's Front (BPF) MLA, and both were ministers in the previous NDA government. Neog was also a minister in the previous
West Bengal's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal was appointed the chief secretary of the Suvendu Adhikari-led BJP government in the state, according to an official order issued on Monday. Agarwal, a 1990-batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre, helmed the EC-mandated SIR exercise in the state in the run-up to the assembly polls in which around 91 lakh voters were removed from the electoral rolls. Incumbent Chief Secretary Dushyant Nariala was named Principal Resident Commissioner in New Delhi, the order stated. Nariwala, a 1993-batch IAS, was named the chief secretary of West Bengal by the poll body, removing Nandini Chakravorty from the position of the state's top bureaucrat. The BJP came to power for the first time in the state after handing a stunning defeat to the Trinamool Congress. The saffron party secured 207 seats in the 294-member assembly, reducing the TMC to 80 seats.
Senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari was on Friday elected the leader of the BJP legislature party in West Bengal, paving the way for him to become the first BJP chief minister of the state.
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi further accused PM Modi of shifting the responsibility to the public so that the government could itself escape from accountability
Integration of Bengal into global supply chain one of BJP's election pitches
BJP begins strategising for next Assembly polls; Modi says 'saffron sun' rising in Bengaluru. Archis Mohan writes
The focus on MSMEs has not translated into meaningful capital formation, which sustains industrial growth and employment
Himanta Biswa Sarma was elected as the leader of the BJP-led NDA in the Assam assembly on Sunday, paving the way for him to become the chief minister for the second consecutive term in the state, Union minister J P Nadda said. Eight BJP legislators proposed the name of Sarma as its legislature party leader, Nadda said. Earlier, the Assam BJP's legislature party met here in the morning to elect its leader, who will also head the new government in the northeastern state. Nadda and Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini were present at the meeting as central observers and co-observers. The BJP partners in the alliance, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland People's Front (BPF), also supported Sarma's nomination, leading to his unanimous election as the NDA leader, Nadda said. Sarma and other NDA leaders are scheduled to call on Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya at the Lok Bhawan later on Sunday to discuss matters pertaining to government formation, officials said. They are expected
Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday appealed to all opposition parties in West Bengal to come together to form a "joint platform" to fight the BJP which came to power in the state after the recently held assembly elections. The former chief minister also called upon the student unions of various affiliations opposed to the BJP and the NGOs to unite against the saffron camp. "I call upon all opposition parties, including the Leftists and the ultra-Left, to come together to form a joint platform against the BJP," Banerjee said, also calling upon national parties to join. The TMC chief said that she will talk with any political party if they want to hold a dialogue with her in this regard. "It is not the time to think the enemy's enemy is my friend, our first enemy is the BJP," she said, while addressing a small gathering in front of her Kalighat residence on Rabindranath Tagore's birth anniversary. She claimed that atrocities were being committed against TMC worke
Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and five ministers were sworn in at the Brigade Parade Grounds here on Saturday as West Bengal got its first BJP government, with representatives from the northern and southern regions of the state being inducted into the cabinet, but none from Kolkata. Reflecting West Bengal's diverse ethnic fabric, the cabinet represented communities, including the Matuas and the Santhals. Here's a brief look at the background of the five members of Adhikari's council of ministers who were sworn in: Dilip Ghosh: If the 2026 state elections put giant-killer Suvendu Adhikari at its centrestage, following his historic win over Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur, the polls also scripted a remarkable comeback for Ghosh, the former president of the BJP's West Bengal unit, cementing his role in a more measured second innings in state politics. Easily one of the party's most recognisable and combative faces in Bengal, Ghosh played a pivotal role in transforming the saffron part
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday congratulated Suvendu Adhikari on taking oath as West Bengal's first BJP chief minister, saying that he was deeply connected to the people and understood their aspirations. Adhikari took the oath at the iconic Brigade Parade Grounds in the presence of Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the BJP's central leadership and chief ministers of NDA-ruled states. In his message for Adhikari, Modi wished the first BJP chief minister of the state a "fruitful tenure". "Congratulations to Suvendu Adhikari Ji on taking oath as West Bengal's chief minister. He has made a mark as a leader who remained deeply connected to the people and understood their aspirations from close quarters," Modi wrote on X after attending the event. "My best wishes to him for a fruitful tenure ahead," he wrote and posted with the message an image of Goddess Durga and another of him congratulating Adhikari on the stage.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said the BJP's "spectacular" victory in West Bengal shows that the party's ideology has now gained recognition among people there, and the power change brought by them will pave the way for development of the eastern state. The Minister of Road Transport and Highways was talking to PTI Videos here before heading to Kolkata to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Suvendu Adhikari as West Bengal Chief Minister. The BJP secured 207 seats in the 294-member West Bengal assembly in the recently-concluded elections, ending the Trinamool Congress (TMC)'s 15-year rule and scripting its most significant breakthrough in eastern India. Adhikari, who defeated TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee in the Bhabanipur assembly seat, on Saturday took oath as the first BJP chief minister of West Bengal, marking a watershed moment that redrew the state's political landscape after decades of resistance to saffron politics. Before the TMC came to power in 2011, the Left Fron