West Bengal: Full BJP Cabinet to be sworn in on Monday

The BJP government in West Bengal will form its full Cabinet on Monday, with Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announcing that 35 ministers will take oath at Lok Bhavan. Governor RN Ravi will administer the oath.

Kolkata: The full Cabinet of the BJP government in West Bengal is set to be formed on Monday. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has announced how many ministers will take oath at Lok Bhavan during the Cabinet expansion exercise.

On Sunday, the Chief Minister posted on social media: “Tomorrow, the full Cabinet of the nationalist government elected by the people of West Bengal is going to be formed. Thirty-five ministers of the West Bengal government will take oath at Lok Bhavan at 11 a.m. as part of the Cabinet expansion. His Excellency the Governor Shri RN Ravi will administer the oath to them.”

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The BJP came to power in West Bengal for the first time on May 4 after defeating the Trinamool Congress. On May 9, Suvendu Adhikari took oath as Chief Minister at the Brigade Parade Ground in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Five other ministers were also sworn in along with him.

Since then, there have been intense discussions over the expansion of Suvendu Adhikari’s cabinet. Last week, the Chief Minister and BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya held separate meetings with the party’s top leadership in Delhi. Speculation subsequently gathered pace that the Cabinet expansion could take place at any time.

The BJP is now set to complete the process on the first day of June.

If 35 more members are added to the current six-member cabinet, including the Chief Minister, the total strength of the cabinet will rise to 41.

According to Constitutional provisions, no state can have ministers numbering more than 15 per cent of the total strength of the Assembly. Accordingly, a maximum of 44 ministers can be accommodated in the 294-member West Bengal Assembly.

A source in the state BJP claimed that there were valid reasons for taking time to finalise the cabinet.

The BJP received significant support from almost all districts of the state in the election. Therefore, the party’s top leadership wanted to ensure adequate representation for all districts in the cabinet. That, according to the source, is why the formation of a full-fledged cabinet took some time.

It is learnt that Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari may allocate portfolios to the new ministers after the oath-taking ceremony concludes on Monday.

However, he did not give any indication about which of the 208 victorious BJP MLAs would be inducted into the ministry.