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‘5-6 new faces likely,’ says Mamata ahead of Bengal cabinet rejig on Wednesday
Some ministers may be relieved of their duties for organisational work, Banerjee said while indicating that she will induct fresh faces in the cabinet
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Monday that she will go in for a cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday, as some portfolios were lying vacant after the Enforcement Directorate arrested former TMC minister Partha Chatterjee while two other ministers had died since November 2021.
Some ministers may be relieved of their duties for organisational work, Banerjee said while indicating that she will induct fresh faces in the cabinet.
“There will be a small reshuffle on Wednesday. Around four to five ministers will be moved for organisational work. We will induct five to six new faces in the cabinet,” Banerjee told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Monday.
Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee was arrested on July 23 by the Enforcement Directorate for his alleged involvement in the multi-crore recruitment scam in government schools. He is now in ED custody.
“Two senior leaders Subrata Mukherjee and Sadhan Pande have died. Partha Chatterjee is in custody. Who will perform their tasks? Someone or the other has to do that work. Some ministries are lying vacant. It is not possible for me to handle everything alone. We have to do it together,” she said.
Chatterjee was stripped of his portfolios by the chief minister on Thursday, six days after he was arrested. He was state minister for commerce and industry, IT and electronics, parliamentary affairs and public enterprises and industrial reconstruction. Mamata Banerjee is looking after the portfolios at present. Chatterjee has also been suspended from the Trinamool Congress.
Mukherjee, who died in November 2021, was the state minister for panchayat and rural development and public health engineering, while Pande, who died in February 2022 used to hold portfolios such as self-help group and self-employment and consumer affairs.
On Monday, the Bengal cabinet took the decision to carve out seven new districts in the state, the chief minister announced.
Banerjee also criticised the media for allegedly holding a ‘kangaroo trial’ after Chatterjee was arrested by the federal agency and ₹50 crore cash and gold worth ₹5 crore were recovered from his close associate’s flats.
“Media is holding a kangaroo trial. Chief Justice of India has also flagged the issue recently. There are no plans to go for a cabinet overhaul. We will do a reshuffle,” she said.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana had recently said that media channels were running “kangaroo courts” on issues of complicated judicial questions and their “ill-informed and agenda-driven debates” were hurting India’s democracy while calling for a course correction by the industry before the courts are compelled to step in.
