7th Left Front Government installed as Ministers take oath

Kolkata, May 18 (UNI) A 44-member Council of Ministers, led by Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee, were sworn-in at a glittering ceremony at the Raj Bhavan today as the seventh Left Front Government was installed in West Bengal making a history in the country.

Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi administered the oath of office and secrecy to the Ministers, of whom 33 were of cabinet rank and eleven Ministers of State.

The Ministry included 16 new faces of whom two are women.

About 3,000 invitees, including noted politicians,industrialists, academics and eminent personalities from all walks of life were witness to the programme, held at the sprawling lawn of the Rajbhavan.

Prominent among those present were agro-economist M S Swaminathan, ITC Chairman Yogi Deveswar, Viedocon Industries chief V N Dhoot, RPG Group Chairman Ramaprasad Goenka, historian Irfan Habib, cricketer Sourav Ganguly and former Olympian Chuni Goswami.

CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat, veteran leader Jyoti Basu, Politbureau members Sitaram Yechuri and Brinda Karat besides leaders of various political parties and trade union organisations and senior civil and army officials also attended the ceremony.

However, the Trinamool Congress boycotted the programme in protest against alleged terrorisation of party workers by the CPI(M) following the elections.

This was the first time for any party or coalition to retain power for the seventh successive term in any state.

All the Ministers had already been allocated portfolios at a meeting of the ruling Left Front yesterday.

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