Kolkata: West Bengal may get two deputy chief ministers, sources told Times Now on Friday.
Top leaders of the BJP, including Union home minister Amit Shah and Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi are now engaged in the state’s legislative party meeting at the Biswa Bangla Convention Centre in Kolkata to select its leader and decide the list of names of ministers who would take oath on Saturday at a gala swearing-in ceremony at Brigade Parade Ground.
This will be a landmark event for the BJP. The party won by a landslide in the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly elections, winning 207 seats in the 294-member Assembly, and defeating incumbent Mamata Banerjee, whose Trinamool Congress won just 80 seats.
This is for the first time that the party has come to power in the state, dealing a severe blow to the Trinamool Congress.
With Mamata refusing to concede defeat and tender her resignation, Governor R N Ravi dissolved the Assembly on Thursday, paving the way for the formation of the new government.
A list of probable leaders who can be part of the Bengal cabinet has been accessed by Times Now. Ten Bengal BJP leaders are expected to be part of the next government, sources told the channel.
They may include Suvendu Adhikari, Dilip Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul, Nishith Pramanik, Roopa Ganguly, Swapan Dasgupta, Shankar Ghosh, Tapas Roy, Ashok Dinda and Dr Rajesh Kumar.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be present during Saturday’s event that will showcase Bengali culture and traditions. This has been specially planned to dispel claims by the Trinamool Congress that the BJP is a party of ‘Bohiragotos’ or outsiders.
Shah and party president Nitin Nabin will also be present at the event, along with the chief ministers of all NDA-ruled states..
