35 BJP MLAs have taken the oath, including West Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari, of office and secrecy in the Lok Bhavan on June 1.
Suvendu Adhikari Cabinet expansion, 35 MLAs took oath: West Bengal new Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari expanded his cabinet on Monday. In the presence of Governor R.N. Ravi and CM Suvendu, all 35 BJP MLAs have taken the oath of office and secrecy in the Lok Bhavan. After the induction of 35 legislators into the council of ministers, the Bengal cabinet strength has now risen to 41 including the Chief Minister.
The Cabinet includes Deepak Barman, Tapas Roy, Dr Shankar Ghosh, Manoj Kumar Oraon, Arjun Singh, Gouri Shankar Ghosh, Jagannath Chattopadhyay, Swapan Dasgupta, Kalyan Chakraborty, Ajay Poddar, Saradwat Mukherjee and Dudh Kumar Mondal. The Ministers of State (Independent Charge) are Malati Rava Roy, Rajesh Mahato and Dr Indranil Khan.
The Ministers of State are 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.
The state’s 294-member assembly allows for a maximum of 44 ministers under Article 164(1A) of the Constitution, which caps the Council of Ministers at 15% of the assembly strength.
Newly held BJP government in West Bengal has given space to both young and experienced leaders in the cabinet. The expansion marks a significant reshuffle as the state government moves to strengthen it’s administrative team and governance across various departments.
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