Amit Shah arrives in Kolkata; new CM name to be finalised today

KOLKATA: Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrived in Kolkata on Friday to choose the new leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Legislative Party in the West Bengal Assembly, who will assume the role of the new Chief Minister of the state following the BJP’s resounding victory in the recently held elections, the results of which were announced on May 4.

His flight landed at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport at around 11 a.m. He was greeted at the airport by top state BJP leaders of West Bengal, namely the party state president and Rajya Sabha member, Samik Bhattacharya and the former Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari.

From the airport, the Union Home Minister went straight to the iconic Goddess Kali temple in the North 24 Parganas district, where he offered prayers.

His next destination is a hotel in the New Town in the northern outskirts of Kolkata, where he will have lunch. Thereafter, he will be holding a meeting with the newly elected BJP legislators at Biswa Bangla Convention Centre, also in New Town.

At the meeting, the leader of the BJP’s Legislative Party in the Assembly, who will also be the first BJP chief minister of West Bengal since independence, will be selected.