THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
Kolkata, June 1: In the first expansion of the Suvendu Adhikari-led West Bengal government, 35 BJP legislators were inducted into the ministry on Monday. The swearing-in ceremony, held at Lok Bhavan in Kolkata, was conducted by Governor RN Ravi.
The expansion includes 13 cabinet ministers, three ministers of state (Independent Charge), and 19 ministers of state, taking the total strength of the Bengal cabinet to 41 members.
The portfolios of the newly inducted ministers are expected to be announced after a cabinet meeting scheduled later in the day.
Tapas Roy, Swapan Dasgupta Among New Cabinet Ministers
Among those sworn in as cabinet ministers were newly elected BJP MLAs Swapan Dasgupta, Shankar Ghosh, Arjun Singh, Tapas Roy, Saradwat Mukherjee, and Jagannath Chattopadhyay.
Also inducted as cabinet ministers were Dudh Kumar Mondal, Deepak Burman, Manoj Oraon, and Gouri Shankar Ghosh.
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Three Ministers of State (Independent Charge) Take Oath
BJP legislators Rajesh Mahata, Indranil Khan, and Malati Rava Roy were sworn in as Ministers of State (Independent Charge) in the Adhikari government.
The new ministers of state include Joyel Murmu, Ashok Dinda, Anandamoy Burman, Kaushik Chowdhury, Gargi Das Ghosh, Bhaskar Bhattacharya, Dibakar Gharami, and Sumana Sarkar.
BJP MLAs Santanu Pramanik, Purnima Chakraborty, and Umesh Rai were also sworn in as ministers of state.
Portfolios Likely to Be Reshuffled
Sources indicated that a reshuffling of earlier portfolio assignments could take place now that the ministry has been fully constituted.
The cabinet expansion followed consultations last week between Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya, and the party’s central leadership in New Delhi over the composition of the council of ministers.
On May 9, Suvendu Adhikari took oath as Chief Minister at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, chief ministers from BJP-ruled states, and senior party leaders.
Along with Adhikari, BJP leaders Dilip Ghosh, Nisith Pramanik, Ashok Kirtania, Kshudiram Tudu, and Agnimitra Paul were sworn in as ministers.
The BJP formed the government in West Bengal after winning 208 seats in the 294-member Assembly, ending the Trinamool Congress’s 15-year rule and securing the party’s biggest electoral victory in eastern India.