For defeating his former boss in the Nandigram constituency in the recently-held assembly polls in West Bengal, BJP has rewarded the post of Opposition Leader of the state for Suvendu Adhikari. Adhikari was a former aide of Mamata Banerjee and contested in Nandigram in the BJP's ticket. He was next to Mamata Banerjee in the Trinamool Congress and last year, Adhikari had dissented against Banerjee and joined the BJP. 

Along with Adhikari, several leaders of Trinamool Congress had joined the BJP and Adhikari contested in the Nandigram constituency in the assembly polls. With the aim of defeating her former aide, whom she claimed as a traitor, Mamata Banerjee had come face to face against Adhikari in Nandigram. In a heavily fought race, TMC had won the elections with a remarkable majority and while TMC has won the polls, Mamata Banerjee had lost Nandigram to Suvendu Adhikari in a margin of over 1700 votes. 

In the assembly of 294 seats, Mamata's TMC has won 213 seats while BJP has secured 77 seats. While Mamata Banerjee had recently sworn in as the Chief Minister of West Bengal for the third consecutive time, it was speculated that Adhikari will be named as the Opposition leader in the state to lead the BJP in the assembly for the next five years. 

Adhikari was considered to be the BJP's Chief Ministerial candidate of West Bengal and the political observers say that the post of the Opposition leader for Adhikari is the BJP's gift for him for defeating Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram. The BJP has also been enhancing the security of the party's 77 MLAs in light of the ongoing violence. 

According to reports, all the newly-elected 77 BJP MLAs in West Bengal are being provided security cover by Central paramilitary forces in view of the potential threats to them. The officials had on Monday said that the BJP MLAs will be provided with the security of armed personnel of the CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) and CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force).

The Union Home Ministry has approved the cover after taking into cognizance of a report prepared by central security agencies and the inputs of a high-level fact-finding team of officers that were sent to the state by the ministry in the wake of post-poll violence in the state, including that against the workers of the BJP.  Of the total 77 MLAs, 61 MLAs will receive the 'X' category security cover while the rest of the MLAs will receive the 'Y' category security cover. 

While there can be 3-4 armed commandos under the 'X' category, the number will stand at 6-7 for the 'Y' cover security detail, and the 'Z' category will be equipped with 6-9 commandos for the protectee.  The CRPF and CISF personnel are providing security to over 140 personalities, ranging from the Central Ministers, MPs, and senior bureaucrats. On the other hand, Suvendu Adhikari has already been awarded with the 'Z' category security detail of the CRPF.