With the BJP set to win West Bengal for the first time, the focus will now slowly shift to who the CM face will be. In the run-up to the elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had repeatedly emphasised that a Bengali would be the CM of the state in an attempt to counter the TMC’s narrative of the party being one of “bohiragotos (outsiders)”.The front-runner by all accounts is Mamata’s one-time lieutenant, whose defection to the BJP in December 2020, just months before the 2021 elections, had come as a big blow to the TMC chairperson. Back then, Suvendu had created a splash by defeating Mamata in Nandigram, where an anti-land acquisition movement had played a big role in propelling the party to power in 2011.Though the party failed to get to power, finishing with 77 seats, Suvendu ended up with the LoP’s post and, for the following five years, aggressively took on the CM and the TMC inside the House. Adhikari, who started his political career in student politics with the Congress at the time the Left was at its peak, was Mamata’s right-hand man during the Nandigram movement, marshalling the TMC forces there during the agitation.“After the defeat in 2021, everybody thought the BJP would get washed out. But at the time, Suvendu Adhikari held the fort, dealt with the post-poll violence that damaged the party’s organisation in several districts, and stood by party workers. He naturally emerged as a face of the BJP and became a leader across the state, rather than only Purba Medinipur.”Samik BhattacharyaAn old-time RSS worker and seen as a moderate face in the mould of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Samik Bhattacharya has been in the state BJP since the time it was a marginal player in state politics and is the first elected BJP MLA in the state, getting elected from Basirhat Dakshin in a 2014 by-election. If the BJP opts for a Bengali bhadralok face, Bhattacharya will be one of the options.Swapan DasguptaA former journalist, Dasgupta involved himself in the BJP’s day-to-day affairs in Bengal before the 2021 Assembly elections. Another bhadralok face of the state BJP, Dasgupta is also close to the central leadership of the BJP. His relative administrative inexperience is a drawback.Dilip GhoshThe former state BJP president who helped establish and grow the party starting in 2016, when he was the party’s three MLAs, Ghosh is a popular figure. Under him, the party won 18 out of 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in 2019, in what remains its best performance in the Lok Sabha elections to date. Ghosh drifted away from the party after the party’s loss in 2021 and then the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, but was brought back into the ranks this January after Union Home Minister Amit Shah met him. He is set to win from his Kharagpur Sadar seat.Sukanta MajumderStory continues below this adAnother former state BJP president, Majumder is now a Union Minister in the Narendra Modi-led Cabinet. He could be the choice if the party wants a face from north Bengal, its stronghold, to take the top post.