The West Bengal government on Monday expanded its cabinet with the induction of 35 BJP legislators as ministers at a swearing-in ceremony held at Lok Bhavan in Kolkata. The expansion comes a little over three weeks after the formation of the BJP-led government under Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, following the party’s victory in the state Assembly elections.
According to official announcements, 13 legislators were sworn in as Cabinet Ministers. The newly inducted Cabinet Ministers are Deepak Barman, Tapas Roy, Dr Shankar Ghosh, Manoj Kumar Oraon, Arjun Singh, Gouri Shankar Ghosh, Swapan Dasgupta, Jagannath Chattopadhyay, Kalyan Chakraborty, Ajay Poddar, Dr Saradwat Mukherjee, Dudh Kumar Mondal and Anup Kumar Das. Their portfolios are expected to be announced later.
With the latest expansion, the total strength of the Cabinet, including the Chief Minister, has increased to 19 members. Suvendu Adhikari took oath as Chief Minister on May 9, along with five other ministers — Agnimitra Paul, Dilip Ghosh, Nisith Pramanik, Ashok Kirtaniya and Khudiram Tudu — who formed the initial core of the new government.
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In addition to the Cabinet appointments, three BJP legislators were sworn in as Ministers of State with independent charge. They are Indranil Khan, Malati Rava Roy and Rajesh Mamahato. A further 19 legislators took oath as Ministers of State, broadening the administration’s representation across different regions and communities of the state.
The swearing-in ceremony commenced at 11 a.m. and was attended by senior government officials, party leaders and invited guests. Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Agarwal formally announced the names of the ministers before Governor R.N. Ravi administered the oath of office and secrecy. The ministers were sworn in sequentially, beginning with Cabinet Ministers, followed by Ministers of State with independent charge and then Ministers of State.
Following the ceremony, the newly inducted ministers were scheduled to proceed to the state secretariat, Nabanna, where a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Adhikari was convened later in the day. The meeting is expected to finalise the allocation of portfolios and outline the government’s administrative priorities as it begins the next phase of its tenure with an expanded council of ministers.
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