New Delhi: Mamata Banerjee will expand the West Bengal cabinet today and 9 ministers will be sworn in Kolkata. According to an ANI report, Babul Supriyo, Partha Bhowmick, Snehasis Chakraborty, and 6 others will be inducted into the state cabinet and will take the oath of office today.
Banerjee, during the media address on Monday, pointed out that several departments were currently functioning without any dedicated minister due to which the reshuffle was necessary.
The CM now holds charge of 11 departments, including the four held by Partha Chatterjee after he was suspended from the party for his alleged role in the SSC recruitment scam. Chatterjee was minister-in-charge of the departments of industry, commerce and enterprises, IT and electronics, parliamentary affairs and public enterprises, and industrial reconstruction.
“We have to reshuffle our Cabinet. But (I) do not have any plan to dissolve the Cabinet and come up with a new one. There are several departments which have no one at the helm. I alone cannot shoulder (the) responsibilities of all these departments,” Banerjee was quoted as saying by ANI.
Banerjee had for a brief period supervised the Panchayat and PHE departments as well as Consumer Affairs & Self Help Group & Self-Employment department following the death of their respective ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Sadhan Pandey. These portfolios were now held by others
Earlier on Monday, her party TMC also rejigged the organisation.
“The All India Trinamool Congress, under the inspiration and guidance of Hon’ble Chairperson Smt Mamata Banerjee, is pleased to announce a few new appointments of District Chairman & District President for West Bengal Trinamool Congress,” the party said in a statement.
The imprint of the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee was evident in the reshuffle in which several “non-performers” were axed, and some were relieved of organisational duties paving their way for ministerial berths.
The new district committees have been set up with a mix of experienced and young leaders in the party, the sources said.
Out of the 35 organisational districts, 11 presidents and five chairmen were changed.