The Chief Minister of the first BJP government in West Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari, is likely to move into a new house in the coming days for which various state agencies, including the Public Works Department (PWD), have stepped up preparations.
These agencies have zeroed in on a palatial government building, called Soujanya, as the CM House, which is located in south Kolkata’s upscale Alipore area. Kolkata does not have a permanent CM House that could be used as the official residence of the incumbent CM.
If Suvendu, 55, decides to shift to Soujanya, it will be the first time after 25 years that Bengal will have a designated CM House.
CPI(M) stalwart late Jyoti Basu was the last Bengal CM, who had stayed in an official chief ministerial bungalow, Indira Bhavan, in Salt Lake on the outskirts of Kolkata.
After Basu, both the CPI(M)’s three-time CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and three-term CM Mamata Banerjee stayed at their own homes in Kolkata during their chief ministerial tenures.
Soujanya as CM House
Sources in the BJP government said that Suvendu may shift to a dedicated CM House from his current flat at Chinar Park in Kolkata. Top officials of the state administration have chosen the Soujanya complex as the new CM residence after finding it suitable on the grounds of logistics and security, sources said. However, it has yet to get a green signal from Suvendu himself.
Soujanya is on Judges Court Road, which falls under the Bhabanipur constituency where Suvendu defeated Mamata in the recent Assembly polls. He resigned from his second constituency Nandigram – his home turf in Purba Medinipur district – choosing to retain Bhabanipur.
“We are preparing Soujanya as the CM residence. If Suvendu Adhikari agrees to stay there, it will become the official CM House. Otherwise, we will have to search for a new home for the CM,” said a senior PWD official.
“Adhikari may also stay in a quarter in the Lok Bhavan premises because of heightened security considerations,” a source in the administration said. “The CM currently stays in his Chinar Park flat but intelligence agencies have found it not secure enough and have advised to shift the CM’s residence either to the Soujanya complex or the Lok Bhavan. Soujanya may make the cut as it is a separate complex and ideal for a CM house. However, everything depends on what the CM ultimately decides.”
Interestingly, the then CM Mamata Banerjee had inaugurated Soujanya in October 2018, which was envisaged as a VVIP guest house of international standards for high-profile dignitaries like the President, Prime Minister or important international leaders. Its foundation stone was also laid by Mamata in June 2015. The location of Soujanya, constructed by the PWD, is less than two kms from Mamata’s residence at Harish Chatterjee Street in the Kalighat area.
The Soujanya complex, marked with domed architecture, has been built over an area of 1 lakh square feet. It is surrounded by green lawns. On its ground floor, there is a banquet hall along with a media centre for press conferences. It also has an underground parking lot with space for 40 cars.
A senior government official said, “Soujanya is ideal for the CM’s residence as it has all facilities. The CM can do press conferences there and can also hold conferences or meetings with dignitaries. We are now just waiting for his nod.”
Jyoti Basu’s house
In the first decade of his 23-year stint as the Bengal CM since 1977, when the CPI(M)-led Left Front first came to power in the state, Jyoti Basu used to stay at his own house at Hindustan Park in South Kolkata. In 1987, he shifted to Indira Bhavan. This white building was named after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as she had stayed there for over a week during the 1972 All India Congress Committee session in Calcutta (now Kolkata).
Even after Basu retired as the CM in November 2000, he continued to stay in the house, for which the CPI(M) paid a monthly rent. He remained there till his demise in January 2010.
Buddhadeb to Mamata
In November 2000, Buddhadeb assumed the CM’s chair, but continued to stay at his two-room flat at Palm Avenue. He died in August 2024 in this residence.
Mamata took charge as the CM in May 2011 after ending the 34-year rule of the Left government. But she followed in the footsteps of her predecessor Buddhadeb, declining to move into any CM House. She continued to stay at her modest ancestral house at Kalighat during her 15-year tenure, which has just come to an end in the wake of the BJP’s victory in the Assembly polls.
