New Delhi: Once the right hand of Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, Suvendu Adhikari on Monday (May 4) delivered a double upset by clinching both Nandigram and Bhabanipur constituencies for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recently concluded 2026 assembly elections.Adhikari, who began his political journey in the Congress in 1995, is the son of Sisir Adhikari, veteran Congress leader and former Union minister of state for rural development under the Manmohan Singh government.Adhikari ended his over two decade-long stint at the TMC when he joined the BJP in 2021 after a falling out with Banerjee. The breaking point, according to political observers, was Banerjee’s elevation of her nephew Abhishek Banerjee as the de facto second-in-command of the TMC – a position that Adhikari had unofficially occupied until then.Claim to fameAdhikari had played a significant role in the 2007 anti-land-acquisition movement in Nandigram – the very constituency where he would deal two humiliating electoral defeats to Banerjee.The anti–land acquisition movement was a defining moment for Banerjee and the TMC. Adhikari’s success in Nandigram paved the way for his appointment as the TMC’s observer (in-charge) of the Jangal Mahal districts, namely Paschim Medinipur, Purulia and Bankura.His involvement in the movement was not without controversy. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of West Bengal Police had alleged that Adhikari had supplied over 1,000 rounds of ammunition to Maoist cadres in Nandigram. An allegation Adhikari categorically denied.After the Nandigram controversy and the Tata Motors plant protests in Singur, the TMC ended the Left Front’s 34-year-rule in the state. Adhikari was rewarded with a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha elections, which he won, from Tamluk in 2009 and 2014. In 2016, Banerjee inducted him to the state cabinet with a transport portfolio.Communal rhetoric in 2026 pollsIn the run-up to the 2026 polls, Adhikari frequently courted controversy with communally charged statements targeting the Muslim community. While campaigning in Nandigram last month, he threatened the livelihoods of migrant Muslim workers, warning that they could not “afford to make a mistake” as they would have to return to BJP-ruled states for work after the elections.“There are 30,000 migrant workers… In Gujarat, 1,100 Muslim young men from Nandigram reside; 800 in Odisha; and 3,300 in Maharashtra. Whose government is there in Odisha? Whose government is there in Maharashtra? Whose govt is in Gujarat? BJP’s! Don’t make a mistake! Mend your ways… so that there are no problems after May 4 (the day of counting). You can give threatening looks and say ‘Joy Bangla’, but I am writing down everything,” he said.Another incendiary remark came when, responding to a question about the lynchings of members of the Hindu community in Bangladesh, he contended that Bangladesh ought to be taught a lesson akin to what Israel had taught Gaza.“A lesson should be taught. Like Israel taught in Gaza. Our country’s 100 crore Hindus; the government is being run in the interest of Hindus. A lesson should be taught. Like we taught Pakistan during Operation Sindoor),” Adhikari had said.The top jobAfter his split from the TMC, Adhikari had contested the 2021 polls from Nandigram and won the seat defeating Banerjee. Five years later, he did it again on her home turf of Bhabhinapur, defeating Banerjee with a margin of 15,000 votes.In a series of posts thanking the prime minister and Sanatani Hindus for their support, Adhikari said, “Today’s historic mandate is not just a victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party; it is a resounding triumph for every Citizen, every Sanatani who dreamt of a ‘Sonar Bangla’ where Lotus Blooms in the Hindu Homeland carved out by Param Poojaniya Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee”.With the BJP sweeping West Bengal with over 200 seats, all eyes are now on Adhikari as the frontrunner for the chief minister’s post.