West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday allocated ministerial portfolios among the first batch of his cabinet, which includes five members who were sworn in with him last week.
Dilip, Governor of Agnimitra
Senior BJP leader and former state unit chief Dilip Ghosh has been given panchayat management and rural development, along with livestock resources and agricultural marketing, a government order said.
Agnimitra Paul, who was widely seen among the contenders for the chief minister’s post, has been given the women and child development ministry, along with the social welfare and municipal affairs portfolios.
Ashok Kirtania was given the food, civil supplies and cooperation departments, PTI reported.
Kshodiram Tudu is the Minister of Tribal Development, Backward Classes Welfare, Minority Affairs and School Education.
Nisith Pramanik has been given charge of North Bengal Development Department along with Youth and Sports Services. Pramanik also worked in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government earlier.
“The rest of the departments will be taken care of by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari,” the notification said. These include internal and financial affairs as the most important.
Expansion is imminent
Given the size of the West Bengal Legislative Council, which has 294 seats, and the law that limits the size of the state government to 15% of the strength of the assembly, it is possible for the government to include up to 44 ministers.
The practice of CMs holding key portfolios is not new to West Bengal. Likewise, Mamata Banerjee, who was ousted by Adhikari’s BJP after 15 years in elections held last month, kept the home and health departments under her direct charge after extending her government for its third term in 2021.
As for the Finance Ministry, Mamata’s third term was the first time in more than four decades that a Bangladeshi finance minister personally held the portfolio. It was held before her by her trusted aide Amit Mitra, who served as the state finance minister for two terms between 2011 and 2021 and, after not contesting the 2021 elections, was appointed as the chief minister’s principal advisor on finance.
Suvendu Adhikari also served as a minister under Mamata before switching to the BJP six years ago. He held the transport portfolio in Mamata Banerjee’s second ministry from 2016, and irrigation and water resources from 2018, before resigning from the Cabinet in 2020.
He crossed over to the BJP in December 2020, and went on to defeat it in Nandigram in 2021, and again in Bhabanipur in 2026 when the BJP came to power in the state for the first time.
