KOLKATA: Thirty-five BJP MLAs, including Tapas Roy, Shankar Ghosh and Swapan Dasgupta, were sworn in as ministers on Monday as part of an expansion of the Suvendu Adhikari-led cabinet in West Bengal.
The oath was administered by Governor RN Ravi at a ceremony held at Lok Bhavan.
Among those inducted as Cabinet ministers were Dudh Kumar Mondal, Deepak Burman, Manoj Oraon, Gouri Shankar Ghosh, Arjun Singh, Saradwat Mukherjee and Jagannath Chattopadhyay.
Rajesh Mahata, Indranil Khan and Malati Rava Roy took oath as Ministers of State with independent charge.
A further group of MLAs — including Santanu Pramanik, Purnima Chakraborty, Umesh Rai, Joyel Murmu, former cricketer Ashok Dinda, Anandamoy Burman, Kaushik Chowdhury, Gargi Das Ghosh, Bhaskar Bhattacharya, Dibakar Gharami and Sumana Sarkar were sworn in as Ministers of State.
Following this expansion, the cabinet strength has risen to 41, leaving it three short of the maximum permissible size in the 294-member West Bengal Assembly.
The ceremony took place three weeks after Suvendu Adhikari was sworn in as Chief Minister on 9 May, at an event attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, senior BJP leaders and chief ministers from NDA-ruled states.
On that occasion, several other BJP leaders — including Dilip Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul, Nisith Pramanik, Ashok Kirtania and Kshudiram Tudu — had also been sworn in as ministers.
The recent expansion follows a series of meetings in New Delhi between Mr Adhikari and state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya with the party’s central leadership, where the composition of the council of ministers was finalised.
The reshuffle comes after the BJP secured 208 seats in the 294-member West Bengal Assembly, ending the Trinamool Congress’ 15-year rule and marking a significant electoral breakthrough in eastern India.
(With inputs from PTI)
