Kolkata, June 1 (IANS) The 35 members of the extended cabinet in West Bengal will take the oath as ministers at Lok Bhavan in Kolkata at 11 a.m. on Monday.

Governor R.N. Ravi will administer the oath.

Last week, the Chief Minister, Suvendu Adhikari and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s state president in West Bengal separately met with the party’s central leadership to finalise the names of 35 new cabinet members.

Finally, these 35 BJP legislators will take oath as cabinet members on Monday. In all probability, the portfolio distribution of the new members of the state cabinet will also be announced on Monday.

Although speculation is there in the corridors of power and political circles in the state about who will be inducted, the state BJP leadership is tight-lipped on the issue. “Just wait till 11 a.m. today. There might be many surprises. The only thing I can say as of now is the extended cabinet will be a fair combination of veterans and new blood. At the same time, there will be fair representation in the state cabinet from all the districts of West Bengal,” said a state committee member of the BJP in the morning, who did not wish to be named.

With the 35 new cabinet members in the state cabinet taking oath on Monday, the total number of cabinet members will increase to 41, with still room left for induction of three more cabinet members, considering that 15 per cent of the total Assembly strength in a state is the ceiling for the number of cabinet members.

To recall, six ministers of the first BJP-ruled state government in West Bengal since independence, including the state’s ninth Chief Minister, Suvendu Adhikari, were sworn in by the Governor on May 9. The other five members of the cabinet who were sworn in along with CM Adhikari were Agnimitra Paul, Dilip Ghosh, Nisith Pramanik, Ashok Kirtaniya and Khudiram Tudu.

After the oath ceremony is over, CM Adhikari will hold a crucial meeting with the different associations of the state government employees to finalise the payment of Dearness Allowance to the current and retired state government employees at par with their counterparts in the Central government and arrears accrued on it, as per the directions of the Supreme Court.

In the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly elections, BJP clinched a landslide victory with its candidates winning from 207 Assembly constituencies. Later, BJP’s tally in the state Assembly increased to 208, with the party candidate, Debangshu Panda, clinching a landslide victory in the repolling for Falta constituency in South 24 Parganas district.

–IANS

src/dpb