‘BJP’s disdain for Bengal evident, no Cabinet Min; only 2 MPs made MoS’

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Santanu Sen on Monday accused the BJP of harbouring a dislike for Bengal since only two winning BJP MPs from the state got a ministerial berth and that too the position of a junior minister and not a Cabinet minister.

Santanu Sen said: “For BJP, Bengal has no importance. None of the two BJP MPs from Bengal became Cabinet

ministers but were made minister of state.

Santanu was given the same portfolio he held earlier. It does not matter whether the BJP bags 12 seats or 18 seats, the dislike for Bengal is apparent. This happened even as the BJP bigwigs such as Narendra Modi and Amit Shah visited Bengal frequently for campaigns.

Two out of the 12 winning BJP MPs from Bengal, Santanu Thakur and Sukanta Majumder, on Sunday, took oath after they were included in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet at the Centre.

Santanu Thakur, one of the 12 BJP MPs from Bengal who won the Bongaon seat, got a ministerial berth on Sunday. Thakur was the former minister of state for ports, shipping, and waterways. Sukanta Majumder, the state BJP president who secured the Balurghat Lok Sabha constituency for the second consecutive time was also included in the Cabinet.

It was learnt that both were given the post of Minister-of-State, instead of Minister-in-Charge.

Coincidentally, a Bengal BJP leader who was present at the oath-taking ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan has remarked: “How long will we have to wait to get one Cabinet minister at least?”