'Didi' takes over the reins of West Bengal

Mamata Banerjee created history on Friday when she was sworn in as the first woman chief minister of West Bengal, after her party Trinamool Congress ended the Left Front government's 34-year-old rule in the state.

Photographer Jay Mandal was present at Kolkata's Raj Bhavan to capture the historic moment for Rediff.com

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee took the oath of office as West Bengal's first woman chief minister on Friday.

West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan administered the oath of office to her. Banerjee, who is the eighth chief minister of the state, took her oath in Bengali.

The oath-taking ceremony at the Raj Bhavan was taken amid tight security.

Apart from Banerjee, 43 other ministers, including seven from the Congress party, were administered the oath of office by Governor Narayanan.

The oath taking ceremony commenced shortly after 1 pm in the presence of over 3,000 invitees.

Among the dignitaries present were Home Minister P Chidambaram, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, outgoing chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Left Front chairman Biman Bose and leaders of other Left Front partners.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi skipped the ceremony as they were pre-occupied with other official duties.