Mamata Banerjee sworn in as Bengal chief minister again

Mamata Banerjee took oath of office today at the iconic Red Road as the chief minister of West Bengal with her cabinet. 

Sixty-one-year-old Banerjee was administered oath of office and secrecy by state Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi at the sprawling Red Road.

Kolkata Mayor Shovan Chatterjee, former Indian cricketer Laxmi Ratan Shukla and singer Indranil Sen are among the 18 new faces in the 42-member ministry to be headed by the TMC Chief.

At the swearing-in ceremony, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, BJP MP Babul Supriyo, Delhi CM Arvind Kerjiwal, UP CM Akhilesh Yadav, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, RJD leader Lalu Yadav, former Indian cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly, and Bhutan PM among others were present at the ceremony.

Banerjee yesterday met state Governor K N Tripathi and submitted the list of MLAs. Among the 41 MLAs, there will be 18 new faces.

Besides Shovan Chatterjee, Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Indranil Sen, the new faces in the ministry include Abani Mohan Joardar, former IPS officer, Abdur Rezzak Mollah, who quit CPM ahead of Assembly polls, Shovandeb Chattopadhaya, Suvendu Adhikari, Rabindranath Ghosh, Churamani Mahato, James Kujur, Siddikullah Choudhury, Asima Patra, Ghulam Rabbani, Zakir Hossain, Sandhya Rani Tudu, Tapan Dasgupta and B Hansda.

Banerjee, who led the Trinamool Congress to a resounding victory in the recent assembly polls, said the portfolios are yet to be decided. Trinamool Congress has won 211 out of the 294 seats in the West Bengal Assembly.