Finance
Suvendu Adhikari took oath as Chief Minister of West Bengal’s first BJP-led administration on Saturday, along with four other members of his state Council of Ministers.
The other five members of the state Council of Ministers who were sworn in on Saturday include Dilip Ghosh, former national vice-president and state president of the BJP in West Bengal; Agnimitra Paul, a fashion designer turned politician and two-time BJP legislator; Nisith Pramanik, former BJP Lok Sabha member and former Union Minister of State for Home; Ashok Kirtania, and Khudiram Tudu.
Ghosh was the second person after Adhikari to take the oath, followed by Paul, Kritania, Tudu, and Pramanik
However, at the time the report was filed, the portfolios of the five other members of the state’s Council of Ministers had not been declared.
Kirtania symbolizes the Matua community, whilst Tudu represents the tribal community. In the recently ended West Bengal Assembly elections, BJP candidates essentially swept almost all of the Assembly constituencies with a Matua or tribal majority.
While Ghosh represents the other backward class (OBC) community, Paul is from the Kayastha community. Pramanik represents the Rajbanshi community, a significant sect in North Bengal, where the BJP nearly defeated the Trinamool Congress in the last Assembly elections.
Adhikari is a Brahmin. Political experts believe that the BJP’s appointment of the first six ministers from various caste origins is a subtle signal that the new state administration will treat people from all caste backgrounds equally, with no bias toward anyone.
o recall, whenever Union Home Minister, Amit Shah went to Bengal for election campaigns, he was asked who the Chief Minister of the first BJP-ruled government in West Bengal would be. Instead of directly naming anyone, Shah always said that the new Chief Minister will be a “son of the soil, a Bengali and one who had pursued his academic career in Bengali medium.”
So Adhikari meets all of the conditions given by Shah before to the elections.
Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress, the main opposition party in the House this time, has yet to announce the name of the Leader of the Opposition, a position held by Adhikari from 2021 to 2026.
Source: IANS
