Kolkata| In a simple ceremony at Raj Bhavan here, 43 ministers of the Trinamool Congress were sworn in, including 24 cabinet ministers, 10 ministers of state with independent charge and 9 ministers of state. While three ministers Amit Mitra, Bratya Basu and Rathin Ghosh took the virtual oath. The rest – 40 ministers – were divided into three groups – the Cabinet, the MOS (Independent Charge), and the MOS, and swore together to shorten the program.
Mitra has not been healthy for a long time and the other two ministers are coveted.
Later Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee allocated portfolios to the ministers.
Banerjee kept important departments such as Home and Hill Affairs, Health and Family Welfare, Information and Cultural Affairs, Land and Land Reforms and Refugee Resettlement with herself.
The Chief Minister will also take care of North Bengal.
As expected, Amit Mitra was given the responsibility of finance but his other departments were given to former Commerce and Industry Education Minister Partha Chatterjee. Chatterjee will also handle the IT and parliamentary affairs portfolio.
On the other hand, Bratya Basu, who is handling IT, has now been given the responsibility of the Department of School and Higher Education. Mitra is not healthy and did not contest the election, but was brought back by the Chief Minister so that he could continue to handle finances.
Although most former ministers succeeded in retaining their department, former Urban Development Minister and former mayor Firhad Hakim would take charge of the Ministry of Transport and Housing. Earlier, the state’s transport department was with Suvendu Adhikari, who left the TMC before the election and joined the BJP.
The winning officer from Nandigram defeated the Chief Minister in a close fight, who would be the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
In the previous cabinet, interestingly, the three most powerful ministers Arop Biswas, Jyotipriya Mulvik and Sowanadeb Chattopadhyay have been given relatively less important portfolios.
Mulvik, who was last in charge of the food department, has been given the responsibility of forest and non-conventional energy.
The Food and Supplies Department has been given to Pulok Roy, who is new to the ministry.
