Kolkata, 01 June (H.S.) : The West Bengal government's first major cabinet expansion took place on Monday, with 35 new ministers taking the oath of office and secrecy at a ceremony held at Lok Bhavan. Governor administered the oath, taking the strength of Chief Minister 's council of ministers to 41 members.

The swearing-in ceremony commenced with the rendition of Vande Mataram and the National Anthem. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari was present at the event, having announced the induction of 35 ministers into his cabinet a day earlier.

Chief Secretary Manuj Aggarwal read out the names of the new inductees. Those sworn in as Cabinet Ministers included Tapas Roy, Manoj Oraon, Arjun Singh, Gaurishankar Ghosh, Dipak Barman, Arup Kumar Das, Swapan Dasgupta, Kalyan Chakraborty, Shankar Ghosh and Dudhkumar Mondal.

Malati Rava Roy, Rajesh Mahato and Indranil Khan were inducted as Ministers of State with Independent Charge. Several others, including Ashok Dinda, Kaushik Choudhury, Jewel Murmu, Harekrishna Bera, Shantanu Pramanik, Umesh Roy, Purnima Chakraborty, Bhaskar Bhattacharya, Dibakar Gharami, Chand Bauri, Gargi Das Ghosh, Amiya Kisku, Kalita Majhi, Biraj Biswas, Sumana Sarkar, Anandamoy Barman, Bishal Lama and Dipankar Jana, took oath as Ministers of State.

Most of the newly inducted ministers arrived at the venue dressed in traditional Bengali attire, while several were accompanied by family members. The ceremony was attended by Union Minister and Balurghat MP , state BJP president and minister , among other senior leaders.

The allocation of portfolios has not yet been officially announced. Sources indicated that the newly sworn-in ministers were expected to proceed directly to Nabanna after the ceremony for an important meeting chaired by the Chief Minister, where departmental responsibilities may be finalized.

Suvendu Adhikari had taken oath as Chief Minister on May 9 at Brigade Parade Ground, along with five ministers, including Agnimitra Paul, Dilip Ghosh, Nisith Pramanik, Ashok Kirtania and Khudiram Tudu. With the induction of 35 additional ministers, the BJP-led government in West Bengal has now assumed its full cabinet strength.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh