Suvendu Adhikari Expands West Bengal Cabinet with 35 BJP MLAs Sworn In

In a significant move, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari expanded his Cabinet on Monday by inducting 35 MLAs from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as ministers. This expansion marks a crucial milestone for the BJP, just three weeks after the party officially took charge of the state government, The Telegraph reported.

The oath ceremony took place at Lok Bhavan in Kolkata, presided over by Governor RN Ravi. With this expansion, the size of the Council of Ministers has surged from a mere six to 41 members, approaching the maximum limit of 44 set for a 294-member Assembly.

Among the newly appointed ministers, 13 have been designated as Cabinet ministers, while three will serve as ministers of state with independent charge. The remaining 19 have been appointed as ministers of state. Notable figures among those taking Cabinet positions include former Trinamool Congress leaders Arjun Singh and Tapas Roy, alongside journalist-turned-politicians Swapan Dasgupta and Jagannath Chattopadhyay. Other Cabinet ministers include Shankar Ghosh, Saradwat Mukherjee, Deepak Burman, Manoj Oraon, Gouri Shankar Ghosh, Kalyan Chakraborty, Arup Kumar Das, Ajay Poddar, and Dudh Kumar Mondal, as reported by The Indian Express.

Meanwhile, those taking oath as ministers of state with independent charge include Rajesh Mahata, Indranil Khan, and Malati Rava Roy. The list of ministers of state features a diverse group, including Joyel Murmu, Ashok Dinda, Anandamoy Burman, Kaushik Chowdhury, Gargi Das Ghosh, Bhaskar Bhattacharya, Dibakar Gharami, Sumana Sarkar, Santanu Pramanik, Purnima Chakraborty, and Umesh Rai, among others.

This Cabinet expansion comes 27 days after Adhikari and five other ministers were sworn in, following the BJP’s successful campaign in the recent Assembly elections. The BJP’s ascent to power in West Bengal signifies a historic shift in the state’s political landscape, which has predominantly been ruled by the Trinamool Congress for over a decade. The new government faces the challenge of addressing various pressing issues, including economic recovery, infrastructure development, and social welfare, as it seeks to fulfill the promises made to the electorate during the election campaign.

Source: scroll.in