<p>West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, on Monday, announced that the state cabinet will soon be reshuffled. The move comes days after Trinamool Congress removed its veteran leader Patha Chatterjee from all ministerial portfolios and party positions, suspending him from the party.</p>.<p>Asserting that there was no intent of forming a new cabinet, Banerjee expressed her disappointment with the media for how a section of it projected the dissolving of the existing cabinet. She said there was no plan of a new cabinet, just a short reshuffle, to redistribute portfolios.</p>.<p>The chief minister referred to the two senior ministers who passed away in the past year (November and February). She added that because Chatterjee was in custody, someone had to take care of departments concerned with industries, information technology and parliamentary affairs.</p>.<p>She went on to explain that somebody will have to do their work, and many ministries were lying vacant, and it was not possible for her to take care of so many portfolios. Accordingly, the state cabinet will be reshuffled on Wednesday, she said. Four to five leaders in the cabinet will be put to party work, and around five to six new ministers will be inducted, she said.</p>.<p>Trinamool also announced a few new appointments to the posts of party’s district chairman and president, in a separate rejig. The party also released an updated list for all its 35 organisational districts.</p>.<p>While investigations into the recruitment scam in state government-aided schools were underway by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate, the Trinamool cautiously distanced itself from Chatterjee, who was the state education minister, when the scam took place. Arpita Mukherjee, who is considered a close associate of Chatterjee, was also being questioned.</p>.<p>The ED already recovered cash and gold worth crores of rupees from her residences.</p>.<p>In another announcement, Banerjee informed about the formation of seven new districts in the state. The new districts, to be formed in the coming six months, will be carved out of South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Nadia, Bankura, and Murshidabad.</p>.<p>However, Amit Malviya, Bharatiya Janata Party’s co-incharge for West Bengal, claimed that the decision to create seven new districts, and bring new faces to the cabinet was an attempt by the chief minister to divert public attention away from the recruitment scam.</p>.<p>“She must explain where a debt trapped West Bengal government will get money to run new districts. With Paresh Adhikari still in her cabinet, new faces won’t wash the taint,” Malviya stated. Adhikari was the education minister in the current government, and was questioned in connection with the recruitment scam. </p>
<p>West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, on Monday, announced that the state cabinet will soon be reshuffled. The move comes days after Trinamool Congress removed its veteran leader Patha Chatterjee from all ministerial portfolios and party positions, suspending him from the party.</p>.<p>Asserting that there was no intent of forming a new cabinet, Banerjee expressed her disappointment with the media for how a section of it projected the dissolving of the existing cabinet. She said there was no plan of a new cabinet, just a short reshuffle, to redistribute portfolios.</p>.<p>The chief minister referred to the two senior ministers who passed away in the past year (November and February). She added that because Chatterjee was in custody, someone had to take care of departments concerned with industries, information technology and parliamentary affairs.</p>.<p>She went on to explain that somebody will have to do their work, and many ministries were lying vacant, and it was not possible for her to take care of so many portfolios. Accordingly, the state cabinet will be reshuffled on Wednesday, she said. Four to five leaders in the cabinet will be put to party work, and around five to six new ministers will be inducted, she said.</p>.<p>Trinamool also announced a few new appointments to the posts of party’s district chairman and president, in a separate rejig. The party also released an updated list for all its 35 organisational districts.</p>.<p>While investigations into the recruitment scam in state government-aided schools were underway by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate, the Trinamool cautiously distanced itself from Chatterjee, who was the state education minister, when the scam took place. Arpita Mukherjee, who is considered a close associate of Chatterjee, was also being questioned.</p>.<p>The ED already recovered cash and gold worth crores of rupees from her residences.</p>.<p>In another announcement, Banerjee informed about the formation of seven new districts in the state. The new districts, to be formed in the coming six months, will be carved out of South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Nadia, Bankura, and Murshidabad.</p>.<p>However, Amit Malviya, Bharatiya Janata Party’s co-incharge for West Bengal, claimed that the decision to create seven new districts, and bring new faces to the cabinet was an attempt by the chief minister to divert public attention away from the recruitment scam.</p>.<p>“She must explain where a debt trapped West Bengal government will get money to run new districts. With Paresh Adhikari still in her cabinet, new faces won’t wash the taint,” Malviya stated. Adhikari was the education minister in the current government, and was questioned in connection with the recruitment scam. </p>
