West Bengal Governor R. N. Ravi on Monday administered the oath of office to 35 BJP MLAs as ministers, marking a significant expansion of Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s cabinet. The ceremony was held at Lok Bhavan at 11 am.
Among those sworn in were MLAs Deepak Burman, Arjun Singh, Shankar Ghosh, Gouri Shankar Ghosh, Tapash Roy, Manoj Kumar Oraon, Jagannath Chattopadhyay, Ajoy Poddar, Swapan Dasgupta, Saradwat Mukherjee, and Kalyan Chakraborti, along with several others.
Following the induction, the total strength of the council of ministers increased to 41, just three short of the maximum permissible limit in the 294-member West Bengal Legislative Assembly.
Expansion follows earlier swearing-in
The cabinet expansion comes three weeks after Adhikari took oath as Chief Minister on May 9. The earlier ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, senior BJP leaders, and chief ministers of NDA-ruled states. At that time, Dilip Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul, Nisith Pramanik, Ashok Kirtania, and Kshudiram Tudu were also sworn in as ministers.
The expansion had been anticipated following meetings in New Delhi last week between Adhikari and state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya with the party’s central leadership regarding the composition of the ministry.
The newly expanded cabinet reflects the BJP’s emphasis on social and regional representation, including members from Brahmin, OBC, tribal, Matua, and Rajbanshi communities.
Historic electoral victory context
The May 9 swearing-in ceremony, held at Brigade Parade Grounds, followed the BJP’s decisive victory in the recently concluded Assembly elections, where the party secured 208 seats in the 294-member House. The result ended the Trinamool Congress’s 15-year rule in the state, marking a major political shift in eastern India.
With this expansion, the Adhikari-led government is expected to accelerate administrative functioning while ensuring balanced representation across communities and regions.
Long or Short, get news the way you like. No ads. No redirections. Download Newspin and Stay Alert, The CSR Journal Mobile app, for fast, crisp, clean updates!
