Kolkata: The portfolio allocation of the new West Bengal Cabinet under the leadership of Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, which was supposed to be finalised and announced on Wednesday, has been postponed by a couple of days.
Sources aware of the development said that the matter will be finalised and the portfolio allocation of the expanded Cabinet will, in all probability, be announced on June 5.
Initially, it was decided that the portfolio allocation would be finalised at an important cabinet meeting on Wednesday, which was the third meeting of the new Cabinet, and thereafter it would be announced.
However, sources added that the process of finalising the portfolio allocation could not be completed at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting due to certain technical reasons. Hence, it was decided that the matter would be finalised and announced on June 5.
On June 1, a total of 35 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators took oath as ministers at a colourful programme at Lok Bhavan in Kolkata. Of the 35 new ministers, 13 were cabinet ministers, three were Ministers of State with independent charge, and 19 were Ministers of State.
With the swearing-in of the 35 new ministers, the total strength of the West Bengal cabinet is now 41. Six other cabinet ministers, including Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, had taken oath earlier on May 9.
With the induction of the 13 new cabinet ministers, the total number of cabinet-rank members in the new West Bengal government, including CM Adhikari, has increased to 19.
There is room for the induction of three more ministers. As per the constitutional provisions, the strength of the Council of Ministers has a ceiling of 15 per cent of the total seats in the state Assembly concerned. Therefore, with a 294-member West Bengal Assembly, the state cabinet can have a maximum of 44 members.
With the portfolio allocation of the ministers expected to be announced on Friday, the question now is who would be allotted the crucial departments of Finance and Industry & Commerce. CM Adhikari, immediately after taking oath on May 9, had clearly said that the two key focus areas of the new government led by him would be the revitalisation of the cash-strapped state exchequer burdened with huge accumulated debt and the necessary policy framework to attract big-ticket investments to the state.
Insiders in the state unit of the BJP said there is a possibility that CM Adhikari will retain the Finance portfolio for the time being until an acclaimed Delhi-based Bengali economist is inducted into the cabinet as the new Finance Minister after being elected in the by-election from Nandigram Assembly constituency in East Midnapore district.
In the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly polls, Adhikari contested and was elected from both the Nandigram and Bhabanipur Assembly constituencies. In Bhabanipur, he defeated the former Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, by a margin of more than 15,000 votes.
Later, CM Adhikari retained his membership of the state Assembly as the MLA from Bhabanipur, thus making a by-election inevitable in Nandigram.
(IANS)
