Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday carried out a major expansion of his government, with 35 MLAs taking oath as ministers at a ceremony held at Lok Bhavan in Kolkata.
The expansion completed the formation of the state’s Council of Ministers, bringing together senior BJP leaders, first-time ministers and representatives from different regions of West Bengal.
Governor R.N. Ravi administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly inducted ministers. Among them, 13 legislators were sworn in as Cabinet ministers, three as Ministers of State with Independent Charge, and 19 as Ministers of State.
The new Cabinet ministers include Deepak Barman, Tapas Roy, Shankar Ghosh, Manoj Kumar Oraon, Arjun Singh, Gouri Shankar Ghosh, Swapan Dasgupta, Jagannatha Chattopadhyay, Kalyan Chakraborty, Ajay Poddar, Saradwat Mukherjee, Dudh Kumar Mondal and Anup Kumar Das.
Indranil Khan, Malati Rava Roy and Rajesh Mahato were inducted as Ministers of State with Independent Charge.
The Ministers of State sworn in during the ceremony were Joel Murmu, Hare Krishna Bera, Anandamay Barman, Ashok Dinda, Nadiar Chand Bauri, Vishal Lama, Shantanu Pramanik, Moumita Biswas Mishra, Umesh Ray, Purnima Chakravarty, Kaushik Chowdhury, Bhaskar Bhattacharya, Dibakar Gharami, Amiya Kisku, Kalita Majhi, Gargi Das Ghosh, Biraj Biswas, Dipankar Jana and Sumana Sarkar.
Calling it a landmark occasion, newly inducted minister Swapan Dasgupta said the government faces significant responsibilities and high public expectations.
“It is a momentous day with the full ministry being sworn in. There is an enormous challenge ahead, with very high expectations from the government,” Dasgupta said.
The cabinet expansion comes weeks after the BJP formed its first-ever government in West Bengal following its historic electoral victory. Suvendu Adhikari was sworn in as Chief Minister on May 9 along with senior leaders Dilip Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul, Ashok Kirtania, Nisith Pramanik and Kshudiram Tudu.
With the latest expansion, the Adhikari government has completed its ministerial team and is expected to begin allocating responsibilities across departments to implement its governance agenda in the state.
