Swapan Dasgupta gets finance as West Bengal govt distributes portfolios among newly sworn-in ministers

NEW DELHI: Newly sworn-in West Bengal ministers were allocated portfolios on Wednesday, with Swapan Dasgupta placed in charge of the finance department and Tapas Roy appointed as industries minister.Dasgupta was elected from the Rashbehari assembly constituency and is a former Rajya Sabha member.The allocation covered 13 Cabinet ministers and 22 ministers of state, including three with independent charge.BJP MLA from Bidhannagar, Sharadwat Mukherjee, was named health minister. Dudh Kumar Mondal was given the agriculture portfolio, while journalist-turned-politician Jagannath Chattopadhyay was appointed higher education minister. Dipak Barman took charge of the school education department.Shankar Ghosh, the MLA from Siliguri, was assigned tourism and parliamentary affairs, while Arjun Singh was given responsibility for the labour and transport ministries.Among ministers of state with independent charge, Indranil Khan was allotted the sports and youth portfolio along with consumer affairs, and Malati Rava Roy was given charge of women and child development.In total, 35 MLAs were sworn in as ministers on June 1, as West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari expanded his cabinet, taking the council of ministers’ strength to 41.This is the BJP’s first government in West Bengal after it defeated the Trinamool Congress in the state assembly elections held in late April, ending the Mamata Banerjee-led party’s 15-year rule.