43-member Bengal cabinet takes oath
KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee retained six portfolios for herself while inducting 20 new faces on Monday in the 43-member cabinet for her third stint in office.
Banerjee retained some of the most important portfolios such as home and hills affairs, health and family welfare, land and land reforms, personnel and administrative reforms and information and cultural affairs, among others.
“We have inducted 20 new ministers in the cabinet. There are nine women ministers (including Banerjee herself), seven ministers representing the minority community and
four each from the SC and ST communities,” Banerjee said.
While the ruling Trinamool Congress returned to power for the third time with a thumping victory, winning 213 of the 292 seats that went to the polls in the 294-member state assembly, party supremo Banerjee lost to her protégé-turned-adversary Suvendu Adhikari by fewer than 2,000 votes at Nandigram in East Midnapore district.
Soon after distributing the berths, Banerjee held the first cabinet meeting and hinted that her government prefers not to impose a lockdown despite a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases.
“We have imposed multiple restrictions. Without imposing a total lockdown, I would urge people to behave as if there is a lockdown. If you impose a total lockdown then people won’t be able to earn a living. There are many poor people who depend on daily wages,” she said.
On Banerjee’s team are 24 ministers of cabinet rank, 10 ministers of state with independent charge, and nine ministers of state. Among the new ministers sworn in was former finance minister Amit Mitra.