Samik Bhattacharya is the new West Bengal BJP president
Mr. Bhattacharya filed the nomination papers for the post of BJP president, accompanied by outgoing State president Sukanta Majumdar and Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari. As no other candidates filed nomination for the post by Wednesday's (July 2, 2025) deadline, Mr. Bhattacharya was unanimously elected to the post.
The 62-year-old BJP leader is a party loyalist and has been associated with the party for over four decades. He has been with the saffron party from the time the BJP's vote share in the State was a mere 3% in the 1990s.
Mr. Bhattacharya has been a Rajya Sabha MP from West Bengal since April 2024. A prominent face of the party on television news channels, he is also the chief spokesperson of the party for the State.
The elevation of Mr. Bhattacharya comes ahead of the Assembly polls in West Bengal scheduled in 2026. The BJP has emerged as the principal Opposition party in the State, but, with about 38% vote share, lags behind the ruling Trinamool Congress, which had taken about 48% of votes in last year's Lok Sabha polls.
The task for the new BJP president is to strengthen the party organisation ahead of the Assembly polls and bring the rival factions of the party together. The BJP leadership's decision to direct only Mr. Bhattacharya to file the nomination is also an attempt to display the unity in the party rank and file.
Mr. Bhattacharya was also MLA of the Basirhat Dakshin constituency from 2014 to 2016. In 2021, the BJP leader contested the Assembly polls unsuccessfully from Rajarhat Gopalpur constituency.
The selection of an upper caste leader as a BJP president is a statement that the party wants to consolidate Hindu votes. The State unit wants to project Samik Bhattacharya as a face who will appeal to the Bengali Bhadralok. Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari has already emerged as a prominent leader of the party who is taking on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The soft-spoken and educated image of the new Bengal BJP president is in line with that of the outgoing BJP president Sukanta Majumdar, an academic, representing the Balurghat Lok Sabha constituency since 2019. In 2024, Mr. Majumdar was appointed as Union Minister of State for Education and Development of North East Region.
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