Education, health, finance & industry focus of BJP’s 1st Bengal cabinet, CM Suvendu Adhikari keeps home

KOLKATA: Bengal’s first BJP govt announced the distribution of cabinet portfolios on Wednesday, putting qualified ministers and veteran politicians in charge of critical departments like health, education, finance and commerce and industry.

CM Suvendu Adhikari kept the key home portfolio with himself. The party put oncologist Sharadwat Mukherjee in charge of health, former journalist Jagannath Chattopadhyay in charge of higher education, former headmaster Dipak Barman in charge of school education, columnist and Padma Bhushan recipient Swapan Dasgupta in charge of finance and veteran politician Tapas Roy in charge of commerce and industry.

“We have tried to put people who understand the existing problems and people’s aspirations in charge of key departments,” a BJP senior told TOI.

Other key departments such as tourism went to Sankar Ghosh and panchayat and rural development to Dilip Ghosh, reflecting BJP’s attempts to give a cabinet that is truly representative of the party’s pan-Bengal footprint.

The result of the assembly polls was declared on May 4, and Adhikari took oath as the state’s first BJP CM five days later. BJP announced the full list of cabinet ministers and ministers of state on June 1.

Apart from home, the CM has kept with himself the departments of law and judiciary, land and land revenue, power, information and cultural affairs, refugee relief and rehabilitation, perso-nnel and administrative reforms, and hill affairs.

Even before the govt notification on portfolio allocation was issued, the CM announced during a visit to Ram Mandir in New Town on Wednesday that Sharadwat Mukherjee would take over as health minister. The doctor accompanied the CM to the temple.

Besides commerce and industry, Maniktala MLA Tapas Roy will be in charge of nonconventional and renewable energy sources department. Dipak Barman, a BJP veteran from north Bengal, faces a tough challenge as the minister in charge of the school education department.

Educationist Kalyan Chakraborti will steer the departments of food processing and horticulture; science and technology and biotechnology; as well as information technology and electronics. Noapara MLA Arjun Singh was named transport and labour minister. “Old guard” Dudh Kumar Mondal will helm the agriculture department.

The 13 cabinet ministers, three ministers of state with independent charge and 19 ministers of state who had taken oath on June 1 got their portfolios on Wednesday. The portfolios of some of the ministers sworn in on May 9 were changed.


Sources attributed the delay in the cabinet expansion and the announcement of portfolios to extended deliberations focussed on accommodating the concerns of RSS. The cabinet includes at least nine ministers with roots in RSS and ABVP, all of whom hold key portfolios.

Agnimitra is in charge of the urban development and municipal affairs department, Ashok is in charge of the food and supplies department and Kshudiram is in charge of tribal development, and minority affairs and madrasa education departments. Minister of state (independent charge) Malati Rava Roy was given the women, children and social welfare department and minister of state (independent charge) Rajesh Mahata was assigned the animal resources development department.