West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday announced that she will reshuffle her cabinet on Wednesday (August 3) — a decision close on the heels of former minister Partha Chatterjee’s arrest in the SSC scam.
In a press conference, Banerjee said: “Subrata Mukherjee, Sadhan Pande are no more. Partha Chatterjee is in jail so I have to do a small reshuffle in the cabinet. I can’t oversee all departments. Some new faces will come and some people will be used within the organisation."
The chief minister also declared that a decision had been taken to make seven new districts. Without taking names, she asked party leaders to avoid situations that tamper with the image of the TMC.
Just before Banerjee’s cabinet reshuffle announcement, the Trinamool Congress too declared rejig of organisational posts.
According to sources in the party, some district presidents have been removed and they are likely to find a position in the cabinet. In the case of North 24 Parganas, Partha Bhowmick has been removed from the post of party president in Barrackpore, with sources telling News18 that in all likelihood, he will be elevated to the post of minister.
The organisational changes reflect that those who get important posts in the party will not get a cabinet berth. Using the same theory, chairmen of some municipalities have also been removed from posts of party president.
Snehashish Chakraborty has been removed as party president in Hooghly amid buzz that he may get a cabinet berth, while Gopal Seth, who was both party president and Bongaon Municipality chairman, has been removed from the former post.
It is clear that the party high command wants decentralisation to ensure organisational workers are not burdened with ministerial work. TMC sources say keeping party and government posts separate is in line with the One Man, One Post theory and will also help reduce corruption.
Interestingly, the organisation still does not have an observer. The observers were removed before elections but their need was felt when differences started cropping up between party seniors and Abhishek Banerjee.
Sources say apart from a clean government and decentralisation, the high command wants people from districts to have the last say on issues in their area. People close to Abhishek Banerjee too said he believes in the theory of the party and the government being different.
New faces who might make an entry into the cabinet are Babul Supriyo, Tapas Roy, and Partha Bhowmick among others.
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