Mamata takes oath as West Bengal CM

Kolkata

May 20, 2011 

Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee and her new Council of Ministers were sworn-in today at Raj Bhavan at 1:01 p.m. Governor M.K. Narayanan administered the oath of office and secrecy.

Besides Banerjee, 42 Ministers also took oath at the glittering function.

Out of total ministers, 35 will be from Trinamool Congress and remaining seven from Congress.

Over 3,200 guests including outgoing Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Chief of Tata Group Ratan Tata, family members of Shingur and Nandigram movement victims were invited to witness the star-studded swearing-in ceremony.

Also present were Union Ministers P. Chidambaram, A. K. Anthony and Pranab Mukherjee.

Giant screens were set up at various locations in Kolkata for live telecast of the ceremony for everyone to see.

The Trinamool Congress, had on Monday, formally staked the claim to form the next government in West Bengal shortly after Banerjee was unanimously elected Leader of the Trinamool Congress Legislature Party (TCLP).

The TMC-Congress combine won 227 seats out of 294 in the legislative assembly, while the ruling Left Front, led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), only garnered 62 seats.

The TMC is the biggest coalition ally of Congress and holds the balance of power in Parliament. Analysis feel that her victory may force the government to be more dependent on an unpredictable parliamentary partner opposed to several key economic reforms.

http://connect.in.com/mamata-banerjee/article-mamata-takes-oath-as-west-bengal-cm-543-14b58703b4ea68baeb44e68c72c661d724f2d4ab.html