West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari carried out the first expansion of his Cabinet nearly four weeks after the Bharatiya Janata Party formed its maiden government in the state.On Monday, 35 BJP MLAs were sworn in as ministers at a ceremony held at Lok Bhavan in Kolkata, with Governor RN Ravi administering the oath.

With this expansion, the strength of the Council of Ministers has increased from six to 41, which is just three short of the constitutionally permitted limit for the 294-member Assembly.Among those inducted, 13 have been appointed as Cabinet ministers, three as ministers of state with independent charge, and 19 as ministers of state.

Prominent figures who joined the Cabinet include former Trinamool Congress leaders Arjun Singh and Tapas Roy, as well as journalist-turned-politicians Swapan Dasgupta and Jagannath Chattopadhyay.

Other Cabinet ministers include Shankar Ghosh, Saradwat Mukherjee, Deepak Burman, Manoj Oraon, Gouri Shankar Ghosh, Kalyan Chakraborty, Arup Kumar Das, Ajay Poddar and Dudh Kumar Mondal.Additionally, Rajesh Mahata, Indranil Khan and Malati Rava Roy were sworn in as ministers of state with independent charge.Several others, including Joyel Murmu, Ashok Dinda and Gargi Das Ghosh, were appointed as ministers of state.

This development follows the BJP’s decisive electoral victory in the Assembly elections, where it secured 208 seats, ending the 15-year rule of the Mamata Banerjee-led government.Adhikari had earlier taken oath as Chief Minister on May 9 along with five ministers.Portfolios for the newly inducted ministers are expected to be announced after a Cabinet meeting scheduled later in the day.