State guest house in Alipore to be West Bengal CM's official residence

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari will shift his Kolkata base to a state-run guest house in Alipore, a senior official said on Sunday. Adhikari, who hails from Kanthi in Purba Medinipur district, is the first chief minister in 55 years to come from outside Kolkata.

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari will shift his Kolkata base to a state-run guest house in Alipore, a senior official said on Sunday. The government guest house, 'Soujanya', located on Judges Court Road in south Kolkata, was built during the previous Trinamool Congress regime to host VVIPs and state guests. The facility was inaugurated in 2018 by then chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Until now, Adhikari had been staying at an apartment in the Chinar Park area on the northern fringes of the city during visits to Kolkata. Following his swearing-in as chief minister of the BJP-led government, preparations are underway for his move to the Alipore guest house, which is around a kilometre away from Banerjee's house. ''Necessary arrangements are being made at 'Soujanya' in accordance with the requirements of the chief minister's office and security protocol,'' the official said. The date of his formal shift has not yet been finalised, he said. Adhikari, who hails from Kanthi in Purba Medinipur district, is the first chief minister in 55 years to come from outside Kolkata. West Bengal does not have an officially designated chief minister's residence. Former chief ministers, including Banerjee, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Jyoti Basu and Siddhartha Shankar Ray, were all Kolkata residents and operated from their homes. Ajoy Mukherjee, who hailed from Tamluk in present-day Purba Medinipur, was the last chief minister from outside Kolkata. He served three brief terms until 1971.