The Prince at Buddha's Coronation
Buddhadev Bhattacharya was sworn in as chief minister of Bengal on Thursday morning.
And the Prince of Kolkata was there to witness it.
Sourav Ganguly was among Kolkata's intelligentsia as Bhattacharya and his the 44-member two-tier ministry of the Left Front was sworn in.
Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi administered the oath of office and secrecy to the chief minister and his council of ministers at a specially erected pandal on the sprawling Raj Bhavan grounds.
Most of the ministers including Bhattacharya took the oath in Bengali, while minister of state Debalina Hembram, a tribal, took the oath in Santhali and Monohar Tirkey another minister of state, in Hindi.
Among the 33 cabinet ministers, Commerce and Industry minister Nirupam Sen was the second to take the oath followed by Surya Kanta Mishra (Health), Gautam Dev (Housing), Ashim Dasgupta (Finance) and Subhas Chakraborty (Transport, Youth Affairs and Sports). There are 17 new faces in the ministry.
The main opposition Trinamool Congress boycotted the swearing-in ceremony. The Congress however attended the programme.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat, party politburo member Sitaram Yechuri, Brinda Karat and former chief minister Jyoti Basu were among others present at the programme.
Image: Buddhadev Bhattacharya (right) being sworn in by Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi (left). Inset: Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee and former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly.
Also See: The New Bengal Tiger