BJP’s new Chief Ministers often come from rival parties

When Suvendu Adhikari was chosen as chief minister of BJP's first government in West Bengal, it was the latest in the trend of leaders with roots in another party, most of them from Congress, not only joining the saffron outfit but also being elevated to the top post.

In the last 12 years since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in May 2014, BJP has made five leaders, who were originally from Congress and regional parties, chief ministers in Assam, Tripura, Bihar, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.

Adhikari joined BJP six years ago after switching allegiance from Trinamool Congress, the party he joined in 1998 after defecting from Congress.

While Adhikari's rise to the chair of chief minister was predictable after he defeated Mamata Banerjee in elections twice, a senior BJP leader like Dilip Ghosh has spent his entire career with RSS and BJP.

Before Adhikari, Himanta Biswa Sarma joined BJP from Congress in Assam in 2015 after falling out with Rahul Gandhi and the state's then Congress chief minister of Assam, Tarun Gogoi.

Sarma went to BJP at a time when it was a small player eyeing the number one spot in Assam politics. Within a year of his switchover, BJP won the assembly poll and assumed power for the first time in 2016. But the chief minister's post went to Sarbananda Sonowal, BJP's import from regional outfit Asom Gana Parishad, where he had led street agitations on the issue of "illegal immigration" from Bangladesh.

The one common strain between AGP and BJP was their similar stand on the issue of "infiltration". After joining BJP, Sarma did not take long to adopt an identical line on the issue.

In BJP-ruled Tripura also, Chief Minister Manik Saha came over from Congress a decade ago before occupying the top post in 2022, replacing Biplab Kumar Deb.

Two years after Saha joined BJP in 2016, the saffron party won the assembly poll for the first time and assumed power in 2018 in a state which the Left had ruled for a quarter of a century.

Manipur, another northeastern state, also saw BJP choosing the inorganic growth route to power in 2017 when N Biren Singh joined the saffron party from Congress and became chief minister the same year.

BJP pursued the same route to power in Arunachal Pradesh when Pema Khandu, another Congressman, split the People's Party of Arunachal (PPA) and crossed over to BJP, taking with him 32 legislators of PPA.

In 2016, Khandu left Congress along with 43 of the party's MLAs and joined PPA.

In Bihar, Samrat Choudhary became BJP's choice for chief minister after Janata Dal leader Nitish Kumar resigned earlier this year, rising to the top post in just nine years in the saffron party after parting ways with Rashtriya Janata Dal