An Indian politician once seen as a protege of a long-serving chief minister of West Bengal state is set to replace her.
Suvendu Adhikari of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was a close aide of outgoing chief minister Mamata Banerjee until their bitter falling out a few years ago. The BJP on Friday said that Adhikari would be the state's next chief minister, to be sworn in on Saturday.
The BJP won 207 of the state's 294 assembly seats in Monday's vote counting, ending the 15-year rule of Banerjee's All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) and bringing the Hindu nationalist party to power in the state for the first time.
For years, Adhikari cultivated the image of a combative organiser with a sharp instinct for power and an ability to turn Bengal's shifting political currents to his advantage.
To supporters, he is the BJP's most recognisable face in West Bengal, a leader rooted in local networks and street-level politics rather than Delhi's political establishment.
