The BJP government in Bengal expanded the state cabinet on Monday, giving complete shape to chief minister Suvendu Adhikari’s team.
A total of 35 MLAs were sworn in at Kolkata’s Lok Bhawan, including 13 cabinet ministers, three ministers of state with independent charge and 19 ministers of state.
Nearly a month ago, Adhikari took oath as chief minister with five other cabinet ministers, which brings the total strength to 41 including the CM.
The 35 names were decided on after weeks of deliberations in New Delhi and Calcutta between the chief minister and the central leadership of the BJP.
Portfolios of the new ministers are likely to be announced on Wednesday.
1. Rise of north Bengal
Adhikari will have 10 colleagues from north Bengal districts with four cabinet-rank ministers and six ministers of state.
Nisith Pramanik, BJP MLA from Mathabhanga, had taken oath along with Adhikari on May 9 as a cabinet minister. Siliguri’s Shankar Ghosh, Dipak Burman from Falakata and Manoj Oraon from Kumargram were sworn-in on Monday as cabinet ministers.
Six others from different districts in the region took oath as ministers of state.
The north Bengal region has long complained of neglect over decades under both the Left Front and the Trinamool Congress. In recent elections, the region has turned into a stronghold of the BJP.
With this many ministers from the region, the Suvendu Adhikari government has indicated its priority for the region and also fixed accountability.
However, the Darjeeling hills, Jalpaiguri and South Dinajpur did not get any face in the ministry.
2. Calcutta-centric no longer
South Calcutta is no longer the power centre of Bengal.
Even though Suvendu Adhikari has given up the Nandigram Assembly seat and represents south Calcutta’s Bhabanipur, the focus of the government is on the districts.
Apart from Adhikari, Rasbehari MLA Swapan Dasgupta and Tapas Roy from Maniktala in the north of the city are the two cabinet ministers from Calcutta.
Saradwat Mukhopadhyay, the MLA from the Calcutta suburb of Bidhannagar, has been given cabinet rank. Indranil Khan, MLA from Behala West on the fringe of Calcutta, has been given minister of state rank with independent charge.
Purnima Chakraborty, MLA from north Kolkata’s Shyampukur, has been inducted as minister of state.
During the Trinamool rule apart from then CM Mamata Banerjee, a number of important ministers and senior leaders were from south Calcutta.
3. Reward of old guard
Trusted hands of the BJP, who have been working for the party for decades, like Birbhum’s Dudhkumar Mandal and Falakata’s Dipak Barman, were rewarded with ministerial berths.
The BJP also kept in mind the performance of some of the MLAs re-elected in 2026 in keeping the political battle against the Trinamool inside the Bengal Assembly and outside.
Shankar Ghosh, Malati Rava Roy, Ashok Dinda, Gourishankar Ghosh, Joyel Murmu, Nadiar Chand Bauri are among those MLAs who have been made ministers.
4. Community outreach
Rajesh Mahato, a former leader of Kurmi Samaj who fought for over 30 years for the inclusion of Kurmali in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and Scheduled-Tribe status for the community, is now a minister of state with independent charge.
The tribal leader and Ranibandh MLA Kshudiram Tudu was among the first five cabinet.
5. Women's representation
The Suvendu Adhikari government has just one cabinet minister, one minister of state with independent charge and three women ministers of state who are women. That means 12.19 per cent of the state ministers are women.
Two notable women MLAs who did not find ministerial berths are Sonarpur South’s Roopa Ganguly, a former Rajya Sabha MP and state BJP women’s wing chief, and the Panihati MLA, the mother of the doctor raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College and hospital in August 2024.
The rape and murder had sparked unprecedented public outrage against the Mamata Banerjee government.
