Three women MLAs from Jangalmahal adorn Mamata's new Cabinet
KOLKATA: After a landslide victory in the Assembly elections with the slogan "Bangla Nijer Meyekei Chae", three women legislators — including a debutant in politics — have come up as the new faces from Jangalmahal in the Cabinet of Mamata Banerjee's third consecutive government.
Birbaha Hansda, Jyotsna Mandi and Sandhyarani Tudu have been inducted into the Cabinet from Jangalmahal districts of Jhargram, Bankura and Purulia respectively.
Again, if Jhargram, East and West Midnapore is taken together (undivided Midnapore) then, there are 7 ministers from the districts which is the highest ever in the state's history. According to political experts, only once in the Left Front regime the undivided Midnapore had got a maximum six ministers.
Besides Hansda from Jhargram, Saumen Mahaptra and Akhil Giri are from East Midnapore while four ministers from West Midnapore are Manas Bhuniya, Humayun Kabir, Srikant Mahato and Siuli Saha.
This comes when Trinamool Congress has regained its control over Jangalmahal by winning 24 out of 40 seats despite the BJP being ahead in 30 seats in 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Again, seven ministers from undivided Midnapore comes as a major political development after "demolishing the myth that East and West Midnapore were the strongholds of the Adhikari family" with an overwhelming result in favour of TMC as BJP won in only eight out of 31 Assembly segments in the two districts.
Hansda, who was sworn-in as a Minister of State (MoS) on Monday at Raj Bhavan and later given the portfolio of MoS Forest, said: "I belong from a family in which people are deeply involved in social work and politics. I will remain focused towards visiting each and every village in my Assembly segment to know what people need before planning development work for the area. I will surely do it despite giving time as a MoS."
Similarly, Mandi said the fight was not at all easy to win the election this time. "We have won the election with people's mandate and will continue to work as a true lieutenant of Mamata Banerjee," she said.
