According to Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders familiar with the matter, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet will be a mix of political veterans and young leaders, with 43 ministers set to take oath on Monday.
TMC leaders, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Mamata had prepared a list of 24 cabinet and 19 state ministers.
Despite the fact that the CM did not reveal the ministerial portfolios, party insiders believe Amit Mitra will be re-elected as finance minister, despite the fact that he did not run in the recently concluded state elections.
“With the party winning 213 seats, Mitra can contest and emerge as a winner from any seat, including Khardah which he earlier held (and now is vacant),” a top TMC leader told HT on condition of anonymity.
TMC leaders claim that Subrata Mukherjee, Partha Chatterjee, Javed Khan, and Moloy Ghatak are among the senior leaders who will likely return to the cabinet. Actor Birbaha Hansda and former cricketer Manoj Tiwary are also expected to be made ministers of state, according to the report.
Kolkata-based political science professor Udayan Bandopadhyay said Mamata must choose her cabinet wisely. “Amit Mitra can be the finance minister but it needs to be seen who all gets charge of other important departments, education for example,” he said.
In the midst of the raging COVID pandemic, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar administered the oath of office to Mamata Banerjee at a low-key ceremony at Raj Bhawan on Wednesday. Banerjee became the 21st and eighth chief minister of West Bengal, taking the oath in Bengali.
Mamata Banerjee, who became the state’s chief minister for the third time, vowed not to “give respite” to those responsible for the political violence that has swept the state since the election results were announced.
The oath-taking ceremony took place as the BJP, which has emerged as the state’s main opposition party, protested at its Hastings office against alleged TMC attacks on its workers since Sunday night.
