At Mamata swearing-in, 3 CMs and political buzz
41 ministers take oath, ministerial council gets 18 fresh faces
kolkata — Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee was on Friday sworn in for a second consecutive term as West Bengal chief minister at a grand public ceremony witnessed by thousands of supporters as well as eminent personalities.
Attired in a simple white sari and white stole, Banerjee was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi in a ceremony held at the city’s historic Indira Gandhi Sarani, a wide boulevard that bisects the Maidan.
Banerjee, the state’s eighth chief minister and the first woman to occupy the post, took her oath in Bengali, and in the name of “Ishwar and Allah”. She dedicated the event to Ma, Mati, Manush (Mother, land and people”, Banerjee’s pet slogan.
Along with the chief minister, 41 other ministers were also sworn in. The ministerial council has 18 fresh faces, including former Indian cricketer Laxmi Ratan Shukla, city mayor Sovan Chatterjee, noted Bengali singer Indranil Sen, veteran Trinamool leader Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, and Marxist-turned Trinamool lawmaker Abdur Rezzak Mollah.
Twenty-eight of the ministers were of cabinet rank, five ministers of state (independent charge) and eight ministers of state.
Chatterjee, Chattopadhyay and Mollah got cabinet berths, while Shukla and Sen were made ministers of state. Three of the ministers are women, seven are Muslims, while the tribe communities also got several representatives.
Bhutan PM T. Tobgay was among the guests who graced the occasion as well as Bangladesh Industry Minister Amir Hossain Amu. Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Babul Supriyo were present as well as chief ministers — Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi, Akhilesh Yadav of UP and Bihar’s Nitish Kumar. Former CMs — J&K’s Farooq Abdullah and Bihar’s Lalu Prasad were also present. —