Mamata Banerjee’s third swearing-in ceremony was held in Corona with 50 guests. BJP, Congress and CPM leaders were also invited. But almost no one saw it at this point. Although almost everyone in the front row downstairs attended the event. Governor Jagdeep Dhankar was in a good mood at the Raj Bhavan function. He spoke to everyone from Abhishek Banerjee to Prashant Kishore. Dhankhar saw Abhishek holding his hand. He also saw the young politician talking with his hand on his shoulder. Of course both were wearing masks. But in a short speech after being sworn in, he called on the new chief minister to end post-poll violence.
Provincial Congress president Adir Ranjan Chaudhary, former opposition leader Abdul Mannan, Congress MP Pradeep Bhattacharya, CPM senior Biman Basu, former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and BJP state president Dilip Ghosh were sworn in on Wednesday. Buddha could not go because of illness. Apart from Pradeep, no other opposition leader was seen at the palace. Dileep said he had not gone to the event to protest the harassment of BJP workers in the state since the results were announced. Coincidentally, at about the same time, BJP MLAs and leaders vowed to work together in Hastings’ office in times of crisis. Dileep was there. Shuvendu Adhikari was also present. Dileep was sworn in. Everyone raised their right hand and said,
Former India captain and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has also been invited to take oath. But he was not seen in the palace.
But the grassroots leaders were almost everyone. Abhishek, Perth Chatterjee, Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakeem, Subrata Boxy, future Speaker Biman Bandiyopadhyay, actor-MP Shatabdi Roy and Dev were present on the occasion. State Chief Secretary Alapan Banerjee and other officials of the administration were also present. Prashant Kishore (PK) was in the seat next to Abhishek. As soon as Mamata reached the throne room of the Raj Bhavan, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar arrived. He swore Mamata in Bengali. Abhishek spoke to several grassroots leaders, including PK. The governor’s wife was seen exchanging greetings with Mamata. At the end of the ceremony, the Governor spoke about the violence after the vote on the new Chief Minister’s short speech. He called Mamata his ‘little sister’ and appealed for peace in the state.
