New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday confirmed the speculation about a cabinet reshuffle as she announced that four to five new faces are set to join her cabinet on Wednesday.
"Many of them are writing a lot. We don't have a plan to dissolve the whole ministry and form a new one. Yes, there will be a reshuffle. We lost ministers Subrata Mukherjee and Sadhan Pande. Partha is in jail so all their work has to be done. Not possible for me to handle alone," CM Mamata said, as quoted by news agency ANI.
"We will do a reshuffle on Wednesday, there will be 4-5 new faces," she announced.
Following the suspension of senior TMC leader Partha Chatterjee from the party and state cabinet, speculation was rife about a possible cabinet reshuffle in the state.
However, as per the Chief Minister, it will be a minor rejig as opposed to a rumoured major overhaul.
Meanwhile, she also made an announcement regarding the districts in West Bengal.
"Earlier there were 23 districts in Bengal now it has been increased to 30. The seven new districts include Sunderban, Ichhemati, Ranaghat, Bishnupur, Jangipur, Behrampur, and one more district will be named in Basirhat," CM Mamata Banerjee said, as quoted by ANI.
The rejig comes at a time when the ruling TMC is facing Opposition protests in the state over Partha Chatterjee's arrest and alleged involvement in the West Bengal SSC scam case.
A report by news agency IANS quoted ED officials as revealing that Partha Chatterjee has told interrogators that everybody in the party, including the top leadership, knew about the money collected from ineligible candidates to get them jobs as school teachers.
According to ED officials, the former minister alleged that he was following "party diktat" and he was instructed to keep the money in "safe custody".
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(With Agency Inputs)