Mamata Banerjee, Suvendu Adhikari change social media profiles after regime change

Kolkata, May 9 (IANS) Former West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday finally changed the political identity displayed on her social media profiles. Notably, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari took oath as the new Chief Minister of West Bengal earlier in the day.

At the same time, Suvendu Adhikari also updated his social media profiles, adding the designation of ‘Chief Minister’ to his name.

However, Mamata Banerjee has so far avoided using the description ‘former Chief Minister’ on her Facebook and Instagram pages as well as her X handle.

Instead, she has only mentioned the duration of her tenure in office. Her revised social media identity now reads: ‘Founding Chairperson of All India Trinamool Congress and Chief Minister of West Bengal (15th, 16th and 17th Legislative Assembly)’.

On the other hand, after taking oath as Chief Minister, Suvendu Adhikari’s social media identity was updated to ‘Chief Minister of West Bengal’.

Even after the Trinamool Congress lost the Assembly elections on May 4, Mamata Banerjee did not resign from the post of Chief Minister in line with convention.

As per constitutional provisions, the tenure of her government continued till May 7. On that night, West Bengal Governor R.N. Ravi issued a notification dissolving the 17th West Bengal Assembly.

In effect, the previous Assembly ceased to exist. However, Mamata Banerjee did not immediately change the identity displayed on her social media profiles.

Till Saturday morning, she continued to describe herself as ‘Honourable Chief Minister of West Bengal’ on her Facebook and Instagram pages as well as on X. As the day progressed, that description was altered.

The results of the West Bengal Assembly elections showed that the BJP won 207 seats out of 294, although polling was conducted in 293 constituencies. The Trinamool Congress secured 80 seats.

Suvendu Adhikari defeated Mamata Banerjee from the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency by a margin of more than 15,000 votes.

In this backdrop, the outgoing Chief Minister did not submit her resignation to the Governor.

From the very beginning, Mamata Banerjee alleged that votes had been “stolen” in more than 100 constituencies. For that reason, she remained reluctant to accept the BJP’s victory.

She has also stated that she would pursue legal remedies in the coming days.

An unprecedented situation emerged in West Bengal after the Chief Minister did not resign despite losing the Assembly elections.

Finally, with the dissolution of the Assembly on May 7, Mamata Banerjee formally became a former Chief Minister in accordance with constitutional procedure. Her latest social media update avoids using the word ‘former’ while referring to her earlier post.

–IANS

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