Team Buddha takes charge in West Bengal

Kolkata, May 18 (UNI) Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee was today sworn-in as the Chief Minister of West Bengal at the head of a 44-member two-tier ministry as the Left Front formed Government in the state for a historic seventh term.

Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi administered the oath of office and secrecy to the Ministers-- 33 of cabinet rank and eleven Ministers of State-- at a glittering ceremony at Raj Bhavan.

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 lawns of Raj Bhavan.

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, Polit bureau 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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