Mamata Banerjee takes oath for second successive term as West Bengal CM
27 May, Kolkata
Ms. Mamata Banerjee Friday sworn in as the Chief Minister of West Bengal for the second consecutive term, heading a 42-member ministry.
61-year-old Banerjee was administered oath of office and secrecy by Governor Shri Keshari Nath Tripathi at the Red Road on an open air Pandal-for the first time-in Kolkata. Her ministry has 18 new faces.
The prominent incumbent cabinet ministers who took oath along with Ms. Banerjee were Amit Mitra, Partha Chatterjee, Subrata Mukherjee, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Abani Joardar, Firhad Hakim, Arup Roy, Gautam Deb, Javed Khan, Abdur Rezzak Mollah, Suvendu Adhikari, Jyotipriya Mullick, Purnendu Bose, Rabindra Nath Ghosh, Bratya Basu, Santiram Mahato, Ashis Banerjee, Arup Biswas and Present Mayor of Kolkata, Sovan Chatterjee. The 42-member TMC ministry has 29 Cabinet ministers, including the Chief Minister, five ministers of state with independent charge and eight ministers of state. Women ministers include Sashi Panja, Asima Patra and Sandhyarani Tudu.
A galaxy of political heavyweights were present at the occasion. Among them were Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Union Ministers Babul Supriyo and Ashok Gajapati Raju, U.P. Chief Minister, Akhilesh Yadav, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and DMK leader Ms. Kanimozhi.
But, the leaders of Left parties, Congress and State BJP boycotted this ceremony. Mr Jaitley, however, said that the central ministers attended the programme in the spirit of democracy. Mr. Jaitley has said, all financial help and assistance would be provided to the new government of West Bengal for the overall development of state. The Minister while addressing a press conference today at Kolkata Press club said, this election has provided a historic opportunity for BJP to make it stronger and to reach to the people at the grass root level.
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated Mamata Banerjee on becoming the Chief Minister of West Bengal for the second time and said he looked forward to working closely with her government for the state’s progress and growth. Trinamool Congress has won 211 out of the 294 seats in the West Bengal Assembly. In 2011 TMC had own 184 seats.