New Delhi [India], June 9 (ANI): Two newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs from West Bengal- Sukanta Majumdar and Shantanu Thakur took oath as Union Ministers in the Narendra Modi government on Sunday.
Majumdar, the party's state president from West Bengal, defeated Trinamool's Biplab Mitra from Balurghat by a margin of 10386 votes.
BJP's Shantanu Thakur who held the portfolio of Union Minister of State for Ports, Shipping and Waterways in the Narendra Modi 2.0 cabinet, defeated Trinamool Congress' Biswajit Das by a margin of 73693 votes from Bangaon.
In the last two terms of the Narendra Modi government, seven MPs from West Bengal have had various portfolios at different points in time. They include Babul Supriya, Surendrajeet Singh Ahluwalia, John Barla, Debashree Chowdhury, Subhas Sarkar, Shantanu Thakur and Nishith Pramanik.
When the BJP won only two seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, both Supriyo and Ahluwalia held charges in different departments at different points of time.
After the 2019 Lok Sabha polls when the BJP's number of seats skyrocketed to 16 in the state, West Bengal got four Ministers. Initially, Babul Supriyo, Debashree Chowdhury and John Barla were in the Council of Ministers.
Later Chowdhury was relieved from her responsibility after a cabinet reshuffle. Subhas Sarkar got charge of Union Minister of State of Education, Nisith Pramanik got charge of Union Minister of State in the Home Affairs Ministry, Subhas Sarkar was the Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Education and Shantanu Thakur was the Minister of State in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, TMC secured 29 out of the 42 parliamentary seats in West Bengal, while BJP only won 12 seats and Congress managed to secure just 1.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the TMC had won 22 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, and the BJP won 18. Congress won only 2 seats. (ANI)
