Suvendu Adhikari-led West Bengal govt's cabinet expanded with 35 ministers

The Suvendu Adhikari-led new West Bengal government's cabinet expanded with induction of 35 BJP legislators as ministers.

Journalist turned politician Swapan Dasgupta, Tapas Roy and Arjun Singh were part of the MLAs took oath of office and secrecy at Lok Bhavan in Kolkata under the administration of Governor RN Ravi.

Rajesh Mahata, Indranil Khan and Malati Rava Roy took oath as Ministers of State (Independent Charge), while several other BJP MLAs were inducted as Ministers of State.

With the latest expansion, the strength of the Suvendu Adhikari-led Council of Ministers has increased to 41, just three short of the maximum permissible size for a government in the 294-member West Bengal Assembly.

The expansion comes three weeks after Adhikari was sworn in as Chief Minister on May 9 following the BJP’s victory in the Assembly elections. The BJP secured 208 seats, ending the Trinamool Congress' 15-year rule in the state.

The oath-taking ceremony was held three weeks after Adhikari was sworn in as the chief minister on May 9 in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the BJP’s central leadership and CMs of NDA-ruled states.

Along with Adhikari, BJP legislators Dilip Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul, Nisith Pramanik, Ashok Kirtania and Kshudiram Tudu also took oath as ministers on that day.

Cabinet ministers - 13
MoS (Independent Charge) - 3
MoS - 19
Cabinet ministers:
Deepak Barman
Tapas Roy
Dr. Shankar Ghosh
Manoj Kumar Oraon
Arjun Singh
Gouri Shankar Ghosh
Swapan Dasgupta
Jagnnatha Chattopadhyay
Kalyan Chakraborty
Ajay Poddar
Saradwat Mukherjee
Dudh Kumar Mondal
Anup Kumar Das

Minister of State (Independent Charge)
Dr. Indranil Khan
Malati Rava Roy
Rajesh Mahato

Minister of State
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
Sumana Sarkar

Key points

35 BJP MLAs inducted into the West Bengal cabinet.Cabinet strength rises to 41 ministers.Suvendu Adhikari government completes first major cabinet expansion.