KOLKATA: The West Bengal government on Wednesday allocated portfolios to its newly inducted ministers, with Swapan Dasgupta taking charge of the finance department and Tapas Roy being appointed industries minister.
The portfolios were distributed among 13 Cabinet ministers and 22 ministers of state, including three with independent charge.
BJP MLA from Bidhannagar, Sharadwat Mukherjee, was named health minister, Dudh Kumar Mondal got the charge of the agriculture department, journalist-turned-politician Jagannath Chattopadhyay was appointed to the higher education minister, and Dipak Barman was awarded the school education department.
Siliguri MLA Shankar Ghosh has been named tourism and parliamentary affairs minister, while Arjun Singh has been given the responsibility of labour and transport departments.
Among the ministers of state with independent charge, Indranil Khan has been awarded the sports and youth, and consumer affairs portfolios, while Malati Rava Roy got the charge of the women and child development department.
As many as 35 MLAs took oath as ministers on June 1, as West Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari expanded his cabinet, taking the total strength of the council of ministers to 41.
A carefully-crafted balance, based on geographical, ethnic and gender considerations, characterised the expanded council of ministers of the first BJP-helmed government in the state.
