FROM PAGE 1

West Bengal governor RN Ravi dissolved the state assembly on Thursday, paving the way for the formation of the new government, reports Hindustan Times online.

Trinamool Congress said yesterday it will challenge the decision by the governor to dissolve the state assembly. Mamata also said in a press conference that she would not follow the convention of going to the governor to hand over her resignation as the state’s chief minister.

Suvendu Adhikari, who joined the BJP in December 2020 after leaving the Trinamool Congress, where he had once been a close associate of Banerjee, emerged as the clear choice. He defeated Banerjee in Nandigram in 2021 and more recently won the Bhabanipur seat, her traditional stronghold, by a margin of over 15,000 votes.

The BJP is understood to be considering the appointment of two deputy chief ministers. No one has held the post of a deputy chief minister in Bengal in the last two decades, the last being CPM leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who served under former chief minister Jyoti Basu.

The key contenders for the deputy chief ministers’ posts -- one of which is likely to go to a woman leader - are Agnimitra Paul, who won from Asansol Dakshin and Shankar Ghosh, the winning candidate from Siliguri.

Home Minister Amit Shah yesterday held separate meetings with Paul and Ghosh in Kolkata to discuss these arrangements.