In TMC 3.0, Mamata retains home, health and hill affairs; Amit Mitra back as finance minister

Days after her landslide victory, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while inducting her new cabinet, retained the crucial departments of home and health departments. Forty three ministers were sworn in on Monday, including 24 cabinet ministers, 10 ministers of state (independent charge) and nine ministers of state. The new TMC cabinet has eight female ministers.
Banerjee will also be in charge of land and land reforms, information and cultural affairs and development of North Bengal –– the only region the party lost to the BJP. She has picked Sabina Yasmin, a young MLA from Malda, to assist her as an MoS to look after the affairs of North Bengal. Party sources said the portfolios were decided at the first cabinet meeting of the government held at the state secretariat.

Almost all the senior ministers in the previous administration, including Amit Mitra, Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim and Partha Chatterjee, have been retained.

While Mitra, who did not contest elections due to failing health, is back as finance minister, senior TMC leader Partha Chatterjee, who held the school education portfolio, will continue to keep the parliamentary affairs portfolio and will also look after Industry, Commerce and Enterprise, and Information Technology and Electronics portfolios, the posts he held during the TMC’s first term. Star defector Suvendu Adhikari’s portfolio of transport has been given to Firhad Hakim.

Hakim was in charge of urban development and municipal affairs in the second term of the TMC government, which will now be looked after by Chandrima Bhattacharya as minister-of-state (independent charge).

Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, former power minister, who fought from Bhabanipore –– the erstwhile constituency of Banerjee –– and won, has been appointed as agriculture minister. Bratya Basu will be school and higher education minister. Subrata Mukherjee will be in charge of panchayat and rural development, while Bankim Chandra Hazra is minister for Sundarban Affairs.

Shashi Panja, the only woman among the eight women ministers to get a cabinet rank, will continue as Women and Child Development and Social Welfare minister. Santhali actress and MLA from Jhargram, Birbaha Hansda, has been made minister of state for forests and former cricketer Manoj Tewari has been made minister of state for sports.

The TMC has increased its emphasis on SC/ST issues –– the vote bank the BJP has been pursuing in the state for years. Manbazar (ST) MLA Sandhyarani Tudu has been made minister-of-state (independent charge) for Paschimanchal Unnayan (Development) Affairs and MoS for the parliamentary affairs department.

North Bengal’s Malbazar MLA Bulu Chik Baraik has been made MoS (independent charge) for the backward classes welfare and tribal development department. Ghulam Rabbani is the new minister for Minority Affairs and Madrassa Education.

Banerjee has also announced that two new ministers –– Asima Patra and Partha Bhowmick –– will be sworn in later. Some ministers in the outgoing administration who were not retained are Rabindranath Ghosh, Tapas Roy, Nirmal Maji, and Ashish Bandyopadhyay.