West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday took oath as Chief Minister of West Bengal for the third consecutive term. The oath was administered by Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar in a muted ceremony at the Raj Bhavan. Keeping the COVID-19 pandemic in mind, Chief ministers of other states and leaders of other political parties have not been invited.
Top TMC leaders including MP Abhishek Banerjee, Firhad Hakim, Partha Chatterjee were in attendance. Poll strategist Prashant Kishor who had worked with the TMC on its poll campaign was also present.
Invitations for the programme have reportedly been sent to her predecessor Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, leader of Opposition of the outgoing House Abdul Mannan and CPI(M) veteran leader Biman Bose. Reportedly BJP leaders including state party chief Dilip Ghosh had also been invited. BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had also been invited for the ceremony.
Soon after taking oath, Banerjee will go to the state secretariat 'Nabanna' where she will be given 'guard of honour' by Kolkata Police.
Soon after the ceremony, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter with a congratulatory message for the newly re-appointed Chief Minister. "Congratulations to Mamata Didi on taking oath as West Bengal’s Chief Minister," he wrote, tagging her Twitter handle.
