Days after sacking Partha Chatterjee, Mamata Banerjee announces Cabinet reshuffle

Tribune News Service

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, August 1

Under pressure in the wake of a corruption scandal, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today announced a reshuffle in the ministry.

The step is being widely seen as an attempt by the CM to improve the image of the government, which has been hurt by the arrest of state minister Partha Chatterjee by ED in the teacher’s recruitment scam and recovery of cash from the residences of one of his associates.

Talking to reporters in Kolkata after a meeting of the state Cabinet, Mamata said, “Three to four incumbent members of the Council of Ministers would be relieved from their ministerial responsibilities and made party office-bearers. Four to five new faces would be inducted in the ministry.”

Mamata said several departments were currently functioning without any dedicated minister, and it is not possible for her to shoulder responsibilities of these alone.

Rubbishing media reports about dissolution of the entire Cabinet in the wake of the Chatterjee episode, the Chief Minister said there were vacancies in the ministry as senior members Subrata Mukherjee and Sadhan Pandey died and Chatterjee had to be dropped from the Cabinet following his arrest.

There are speculations that Minister of State for Education Paresh Adhikari would be sacked. The minister has been pulled up by high court for helping his daughter, Ankita Adhikari, get a schoolteacher’s job. Ankita has been removed from the job by the court and the salary received has been given to the candidate who was duped. The opposition BJP mocked the ruling party and said such cosmetic changes won't yield any results.

"These cosmetic changes are nothing but an eye wash. It won't yield any result. It is clear that the TMC is a structurally corrupt party," BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said.

Changes in dist set-up

• The TMC on Monday carried out changes in its district set-up
• Presidents of several organisational districts, including Cooch Behar, Dakshin Dinajpur, Nadia South (Ranaghat), Sreerampore, Jhargram and Bongaon were changed

Bengal to have 7 new districts

Kolkata: West Bengal is set to get seven new districts with the Cabinet giving its nod to the proposal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Monday. The new districts — Berhampore, Kandi, Sunderbans, Bashirhat, Ichamati, Ranaghat and Bishnupur — will take the total number to 30. PTI

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