West Bengal Governor RN Ravi on Monday administered the oath of office to 35 BJP MLAs as ministers, marking a major expansion of Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s cabinet. The ceremony took place 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 rose to 41, just three short of the maximum permissible limit in the 294-member West Bengal Legislative Assembly.
The cabinet expansion comes three weeks after Adhikari took oath as Chief Minister on May 9, in a high-profile ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, senior BJP leaders, and chief ministers of NDA-ruled states. At that time, BJP leaders 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 focus on achieving social and regional balance, with representation from Brahmin, OBC, tribal, Matua, and Rajbanshi communities.
The May 9 swearing-in ceremony, held at the iconic 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 win marked the end of the Trinamool Congress’s (TMC) 15-year rule in the state and represented a significant electoral breakthrough for the BJP in eastern India.
With this expansion, the Adhikari-led government is expected to accelerate administrative functioning while maintaining a balanced representation across communities and regions.
Also read: New Bengal government to expand cabinet on Monday
Follow us
