At least 43 members of the third cabinet of the Mamata Banerjee government were on Monday sworn-in as ministers during a low-key ceremony at the Raj Bhawan, amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic.
With new faces in Miss Banerjee's ministry, crickter Manoj Tiwary made his entry officially by taking oath today at the ceremony. Tiwary, who played 12 One-day Internationals and three T20s for India, is one of the 15 new faces in the ministry and has been given the youth and sports portfolio.
Manoj took it to Twitter to express his gratitude towards Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee for giving him the opportunity to serve Bengal. He wrote, " This swearing-in ceremony has been an unprecedented experience for me. I would like to thank our favourite DIDI @MamataOfficial & my brother @abhishekaitc for having faith on me and giving this opportunity to serve the people of Bengal."
Tiwary, who contested on a TMC ticket, had defeated BJP’s Rathin Chakraborty in the West Bengal Assembly elections held in five phases in April. The former international cricketer, who joined politics just ahead of the Bengal elections, had contested from the Shibpur Assembly constituency in Howrah.
During the ceremony, three ministers Amit Mitra, Bratya Basu and Rathin Ghosh took their oath virtually. The rest -- 40 ministers were divided into three groups -- Cabinet, MOS (Independent Charge) and MoS and they took their oath together to cut short the program. Mitra has not been well for a long time and the other two ministers have Covid.
Later Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee allocated the departments to the ministers. Banerjee kept with herself important departments like Home and Hill Affairs, Health and Family Welfare, Information and Cultural Affairs, Land and Land Reforms and Refugee Rehabilitation. The chief minister will also take care of North Bengal.
