West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. File.
| Photo Credit: ANI
The allocation of a portfolio of 35 Ministers in the West Bengal Government was deferred for the second time on Friday (June 5, 2026). Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari left for Delhi on the same day. West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya is already in the national capital. This has led to speculations that the BJP leadership is trying to resolve the issue of ministerial portfolio allocation.
On June 1, 35 BJP MLAs took an oath as Ministers at Lok Bhavan, Kolkata. Thirteen MLAs were administered the oath as Cabinet Ministers, three as Ministers of state with independent charge, and 19 party legislators took the oath as Ministers of state. The allocation of portfolios to these ministers was scheduled for Wednesday (June 3, 2026) but was later shifted to Friday (June 5, 2026).
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After the BJP stormed to power in West Bengal on May 4, 2026 the first set of Ministers were administered an oath on May 9.
Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and five cabinet ministers Dilip Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul, Nisith Pramanik, Ksudiram Tudu and Ashok Kirtania, were administered an oath at Kolkata Brigade Parade Grounds. These five Ministers were allocated their portfolios, and the Chief Minister is holding charge of 42 departments.
A prominence was given to geographical, ethnic and gender considerations while selecting these 35 Ministers.
Attempts have been made to give every region and district a representation in the State Council of Ministers. Seven Ministers in the council of Ministers are women and ten are MLAs from north Bengal.
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The key figures in the cabinet who were sworn in as Cabinet Ministers on June 1 included Tapas Roy, Swapan Dasgupta, Sharadwat Mukherjee, Arjun Singh, and Jagannath Chatterjee. These are MLAs who were elected for the first time on a BJP ticket. Sankar Ghosh, Deepak Burman, Manoj Oraon, and Gouri Shankar Ghosh, who were elected to the State Assembly for the second time, were also sworn in as Cabinet Ministers.
The prominent names from the ST community include Manoj Oraon, Rajesh Mahato, Joyel Murmu, Amiya Kisku and Bishal Lama. The prominent names from the Scheduled Caste community include Dipak Barman, Anandmoy Barman, Dudh Kumar Mondal, Hare Krishna Bera, Nadiar Chand Bauri, Dipankar Jana, and Kalita Majhi.
Published – June 06, 2026 09:45 am IST
