West Bengal CM Adhikari expands Cabinet '35 MLAs sworn in as Ministers'

BJP MLAs Swapan Dasgupta, Tapas Roy and Shankar Ghosh are among the 35 legislators who took oath as ministers on Monday as West Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari expanded his cabinet, taking the total strength of the council of ministers to 41.

A carefully-crafted balance, based on geographical, ethnic and gender considerations, characterised the expanded council of ministers of the first BJP-helmed government in the state.

Governor RN Ravi administered the oath of office to the legislators at a programme



held at Lok Bhavan here in the presence of Adhikari, the existing ministers of his cabinet and senior bureaucrats of the state administration.

While 13 BJP MLAs were sworn in as cabinet ministers, three took oath as ministers of state (Independent Charge) and 19 others were inducted in the council as ministers of state.

?The distribution of portfolios for the ministers will take place on Wednesday during a meeting which will be chaired by the CM at the secretariat,? cabinet minister Tapas Roy said.