Mamata Banerjee Rejigs Bengal Cabinet; Ex-BJP MP Babul Supriyo Gets Berth; 8 New Ministers Join Team

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee effected a reshuffle in her cabinet on Wednesday by inducting eight new ministers, including former BJP MP Babul Supriyo. The cabinet reshuffle comes close on the heels of former minister and Mamata’s trusted aide Partha Chatterjee’s arrest in the infamous teacher recruitment scam case.

The new ministers took oath, while adivasi minister Birbaha Hansda took a fresh oath after being promoted to minister with independent charge. Those who took oath were Supriyo, Snehasis Chakroborty, Partha Bhowmick, Udayan Guha and Pradeep Majumdar as ministers in charge; Hansda and Roychoudhury as ministers with independent charge; and Tajmul Hussain and Satyajit Burman as ministers of state.

After Chatterjee was stripped of his position as a cabinet minister, there was much interest in who would be allotted his portfolios. According to a notification issued by the state government, Supriyo has been given the charge of information technology, as well as tourism departments. IT department was previously held by the tainted Chatterjee.

“I thank Mamata didi… she has inspired me… TMC has accepted me… I am very charged right now… will do everything that the CM tells me,” Supriyo was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. As a BJP leader, Surpiyo was a harsh critic of the Mamata Banerjee-led state government, and was often known to court controversies through his statements against the ruling party.

Dr Shashi Panja, who was holding charge of department of women and child development and social welfare, has also got additional charge of two departments previously held by Chatterjee: industry, commerce and enterprises as well as public enterprises and industrial reconstruction.

Minister in charge Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay has been also been given additional charge of parliamentary affairs, another one of the departments previously held by Chatterjee.

New minister in charge Snehashis Chakraborty has been given the transport department, which was previously held by Firhad Hakim. Adivasi face Hansda has been given independent charge of department of self-help group and self-employment.

Partha Bhowmick is minister in charge of department of irrigation and waterways; Udayan Guha has charge of North Bengal development department; Pradeep Majumdar is minister in charge of panchayat and rural development department; Biplab Roy Chowdhury has independent charge of department of fisheries; Tajmul Hossain has been allotted department of micro, small and medium enterprises and textiles, while Satyajit Barman has department of school education.

The new-look cabinet reflects a “holistic Bengal” with emphasis on tribal identity and North Bengal. The chief minister will also be taking on a new working mode with the state government and the Trinamool Congress being separate entities, sources said.

Cooch Behar’s Guha is a significant inclusion from North Bengal. The TMC did not perform well in Cooch Behar during the 2021 assembly elections.

With these additions, however, the chief minister is looking to start afresh after being hit by the Chatterjee fiasco, with an administration that bears a “clean image”. She had promised swift action in corruption-related cases, and the cabinet rejig is an early example of a bid to deflect her harshest critics.

Party insiders said ministers who will be dropped will be given more responsibility in the TMC organisation. On Monday, Mamata had said, “Some new faces will come because Subrata Mukherjee is dead, Sadhan Pande also passed away, and Partha Chatterjee is behind bars. So it’s not possible for me to look after everything. Some new faces will come and some leaders will work in the party.”

The TMC has decided that different people will have responsibilities in the party and government. The CM has decided that the cabinet must bear a pan-Bengal look, with panchayat elections coming up next year.

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