CM Suvendu Adhikari Keeps 42 West Bengal Depts With Him

Creating a record, new West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari kept 42 portfolios among the 54 state departments with him and allocated the remaining 12 to his five cabinet colleagues on Monday. His move makes the first BJP government to have the smallest cabinet in the history of the state for the time being. 

In yet another surprise move, Mr Adhikari made senior IAS officer Manoj Agarwal, who supervised the special intensive revision (SIR) of the voters' list and the recent Assembly Election as the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal and was accused by the erstwhile ruling party? Trinamul Congress? of bias, as



the state chief secretary in place of Dushyant Nariala.

Mr Adhikari is also likely to vacate Nandigram seat and finance, one of the portfolios under his belt now, for economist Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Economic Advisory Council, to allow him to contest and win there in a bypoll so that he can be inducted as finance minister in the state cabinet. 

Mr Sanyal was not only vocal before the polls for a political and economic change in the state but also attended the swearing-in ceremony of Mr Adhikari and five other ministers at the Brigade Parade Ground on May 9.