Cricketer Shukla, Mayor Shovan Among 17 New Faces in Mamata's Team

Kolkata: Kolkata Mayor Shovan Chatterjee, former Indian cricketer Laxmi Ratan Shukla and singer Indranil Sen are among the 17 new faces in the 42 member ministry to be headed by TMC Chief Mamata Banerjee who will be sworn in as Chief Minister of West Bengal for a second term on Friday.

Banerjee met state Governor K N Tripathi on Thursday and submitted the list of MLAs who will take oath on Friday at the swearing-in ceremony to be held at the metropolis' famous Red Road, an arterial link road.

An elaborate security cover has been thrown with around 1,000 policemen keeping a hawk eye on Red Road. This is for the first time that a chief minister will take oath on Red Road.

Among the 41 MLAs there will be 17 new faces. "I have submitted the list to the honourable Governor. Along with me, altogether 42 of us will take oath at the swearing-in ceremony. There has been representation from all districts, except Malda, and also caste, religion and creed. In Malda we don't have any representation. Out of the 42 there are a few new faces. The rest are the same," Banerjee told reporters.

Besides Shovan Chatterjee, Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Indranil Sen, the new faces in the ministry include Abani Mohan Joardar, former IPS officer, Abdur Rezzak Mollah, who quit CPI-M ahead of Assembly polls, Shovandeb Chattopadhaya, Suvendu Adhikari, Rabindranath Ghosh, Churamani Mahato, James Kujur, Siddikullah Choudhury, Asima Patra, Ghulam Rabbani, Zakir Hossain, Sandhya Rani Tudu, Tapan Dasgupta and B Hansda. Banerjee, who led the Trinamool Congress to a resounding victory in the recent assembly polls, said the portfolios are yet to be decided.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Union Minister Babool Supriyo, Bangladesh Industry Minister, Bhutan Prime Minister, Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Singh Yadav had confirmed their presence in the ceremony, she said.

Banerjee said the swearing-in ceremony would be open to the common people. "Apart from the seats allotted to the card-holders, seating arrangement has been done for the general people who are willing to attend the programme. They don't need any cards to attend the programme as we have dedicated this swearing-in ceremony for the common people," Banerjee said.