Suvendu Adhikari expands Bengal cabinet with 35 BJP ministers
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari carried out a major cabinet expansion on Monday, with 35 BJP MLAs taking oath as ministers in the new state government. The oath was administered by Governor R N Ravi at Lok Bhavan, marking one of the biggest political moves since the BJP formed its first government in West Bengal.
The expansion comes three weeks after Adhikari was sworn in as Chief Minister on May 9, following the BJP’s victory in the 294-member West Bengal Assembly. The party won 208 seats, ending the 15-year rule of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress and opening a new political chapter in the state. Reports from NDTV, Times of India and Economic Times confirm that the new induction has taken the strength of the Bengal council of ministers to 41, just three short of the constitutional limit for the state assembly.
Cabinet expansion strengthens BJP’s Bengal government
The new ministers include several known BJP faces such as Swapan Dasgupta, Tapas Roy, Shankar Ghosh, Deepak Burman, Arjun Singh, Manoj Oraon and Gouri Shankar Ghosh. Their induction is being seen as an effort to balance experience, regional representation and organisational loyalty within the new government.
Adhikari had taken oath earlier along with Dilip Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul, Nisith Pramanik, Ashok Kirtania and Kshudiram Tudu. With Monday’s expansion, the government now has a much broader ministerial team to handle departments, governance priorities and political outreach across Bengal.
The cabinet expansion was expected after Adhikari and state BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya held discussions with the party’s central leadership in New Delhi last week. The meetings reportedly focused on the selection of MLAs for the council of ministers and the political message the BJP wanted to send after its historic win in Bengal.
For the BJP, this expansion is not just an administrative exercise. It is also a signal that the party wants to consolidate its hold across Bengal after replacing the Trinamool Congress government. The choice of ministers reflects the need to reward senior leaders, accommodate influential regional figures and bring different caste, community and district-level equations into the cabinet structure.
Who took oath in the Bengal cabinet expansion
Among those sworn in as cabinet ministers were Swapan Dasgupta, Dudh Kumar Mondal, Deepak Burman, Manoj Oraon, Gouri Shankar Ghosh, Arjun Singh, Tapas Roy, Saradwat Mukherjee, Jagannath Chattopadhyay and Shankar Ghosh.
Rajesh Mahata, Indranil Khan and Malati Rava Roy took oath as ministers of state with independent charge. Several other BJP MLAs, including Santanu Pramanik, Purnima Chakraborty, Umesh Rai, Joyel Murmu, Ashok Dinda, Anandamoy Burman, Kaushik Chowdhury, Gargi Das Ghosh, Bhaskar Bhattacharya, Dibakar Gharami and Sumana Sarkar, were sworn in as ministers of state.
The induction of 35 ministers gives the Adhikari government a fuller administrative shape at a time when expectations are high from the first BJP-led government in West Bengal. The new cabinet will now be watched closely for portfolio allocation, governance priorities and the way it handles key issues such as law and order, employment, welfare delivery, infrastructure, industry and rural development.
The opportunity for Adhikari is big, but so is the pressure. A large cabinet can improve regional outreach and administrative speed, but it can also create coordination challenges if departments and responsibilities are not clearly assigned. The BJP’s real test will begin after the swearing-in ceremony, when the government has to move from political celebration to measurable governance.
With the council of ministers now standing at 41, the Suvendu Adhikari government has nearly reached its maximum possible cabinet size. The expansion gives the BJP a powerful platform to push its agenda in Bengal, but voters will judge the new government less by the number of ministers and more by delivery on jobs, public services, investment and political stability.
