Subrata Gupta, a retired IAS officer who had played a key role in holding the Assembly elections as a special observer, was appointed adviser to the chief minister on Saturday, while Suvendu Adhikari will start his administrative journey on Monday by holding two administrative meetings at Nabanna Sabhaghar.
“The chief minister will hold two administrative meetings — one with the secretaries of all departments and district magistrates, and another with police officers, including SPs — at Nabanna Sabhaghar on Monday. The first meeting will start at 4pm and the second at 5pm,” said a senior government official.
Adhikari held a brief meeting with the chief secretary, home secretary, finance secretary, personnel and administrative reforms secretary and the DGP at the Maidan tent of the public works department soon after the swearing-in ceremony on Saturday.
“The chief minister enquired about the time required to renovate the Writers’ Buildings and the place from where the government could be run for the time being till the revamp got over,” said a source in the administration.
Soon after the meeting, three decisions were taken. First, Gupta was appointed as the adviser to the chief minister. Second, Shantanu Bala, a 2017-batch IAS officer who was the ADM of South 24-Parganas, was appointed as the private secretary to the chief minister. Third, all administrative meetings of the chief minister will be held at Nabanna.
According to sources, Adhikari is likely to hold meetings on Monday with top government officials, including Gupta, around 11.30am on the 14th floor of Nabanna where the chief minister’s chamber is located. After the meeting with the officials, the cabinet will meet in the cabinet room on the 13th floor of Nabanna on the 13th.
Along with Adhikari, five ministers took the oath on Saturday,
“I will start working on Monday. I will allot departments to the five ministers so that they can also start working from Monday,” the chief minister said in the evening.
Sources in the administration said that there had been uncertainty after the change of power about where the chief minister would function. Following Adhikari’s meeting with the top officials on Saturday, it was clear that the government would work from Nabanna for the time being.
“It might be for a brief period until the Writers’ Buildings is renovated. But the new government will start functioning from Nabanna,” said a source.
Even though the government will start functioning with six ministers, including Suvendu, it is not certain when the remaining ministers will take the oath.
There can be 44 ministers plus the chief minister in the state cabinet. Certainly, more ministers will be inducted into the cabinet later, but the date for the swearing-in ceremony of other ministers is yet to be finalised.
“The governor will be out of the state for a few days. Once he comes back, more ministers will be sworn in at Lok Bhavan,” said an official.