Team Suvendu: Swapan Dasgupta gets finance, Dilip Ghosh panchayats

Nine days after West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari expanded his Cabinet, portfolios were allocated to the ministers Wednesday, with Swapan Dasgupta, senior BJP leader and columnist, named the Finance Minister and Tapas Roy given the portfolio of industries.

According to a notification issued by the Adhikari-led BJP government, the entire 41-member Council of Ministers, including the CM, have now been allotted portfolios.

Besides Home and Hill Affairs, CM Adhikari will hold the charge of the departments of Land and Land Reforms, Refugee Relief and Rehabilitation, Power, Information and Cultural Affairs, Personnel and Administrative Reforms, and other departments not allotted to any other Minister.

Apart from Industries, Tapas Roy, who was earlier with the Congress and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and had served as a minister in the previous Mamata Banerjee government before joining the BJP in 2024, has got the portfolios of Commerce, Public Enterprises and Industrial Reconstruction and Non-Conventional and Renewable Energy Sources.

Former state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh will continue to hold the portfolios of Panchayats, Rural Development and Agriculture Marketing.

35 Bengal ministers took the oath of office on June 1

Prominent woman leader Agnimitra Paul will handle Urban Development and Municipal Affairs. Significantly, Paul was in charge of both Urban Development and Women and Child Development ministries in the earlier notification. In the fresh one, the Women and Child Development ministry has been allocated to Malati Rava Roy, a party MLA from Tufanganj with links to the RSS, who will also handle the charge of Social Welfare and Self-Help Groups.

Nishith Pramanik, a former Union Minister, has been allotted the portfolio of North Bengal Development and Water Resources.

Dipak Burman, a former school headmaster, has been given the charge of the School Education department. Former journalist Jagannath Chattopadhyay is the Higher Education Minister in the new government. Dudh Kumar Mondal has been named the Agriculture Minister.

Shankar Ghosh, who was with the CPI(M) before switching to the BJP in 2021, will hold the charge of Parliamentary Affairs and Tourism. Arjun Singh, a former MP, will handle the Labour and Transport departments in the Adhikari government.

Dr Sharadwat Mukherjee, an oncologist who made headlines for campaigning with a fish for the Bengal elections, has been allocated the Health and Family Welfare portfolio. Another doctor in the Suvendu government, Indranil Khan, will handle the departments of Youth Services and Sports, and Consumer Affairs.

Ashok Dinda, former cricketer, is now a Minister of State for Agricultural Marketing, MSMEs and Textiles. Kalita Maji, who once worked as a household help and battled against all odds to become an MLA, has become the MoS for Housing now.

On May 9, CM Adhikari was sworn in along with five Cabinet Ministers including Dilip Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul, Ashok Kirtania, Nisith Pramanik, and Kshudiram Tudu, who were assigned their portfolios after a couple of days.

On June 1, the Adhikari ministry underwent a significant expansion, with 35 more ministers taking oath, of whom 13 are Cabinet Ministers and 22 are MoS including three with independent charge.