Mamata becomes only woman to take oath as Bengal CM for third time

New Delhi: Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee took oath as West Bengal Chief Minister for the third consecutive time after she spearheaded her party to a remarkable victory in the assembly polls

Mamata Banerjee, in her trademark white Sari and shawl, took oath in Bengali. Banerjee said her first priority would be to tackle Covid and also appealed to people to maintain peace.

She took oath as Chief Minister on Wednesday at the "Throne Room" at the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata in the shadow of the Covid pandemic and reports of violence in some parts of the state.

The ceremony was a low-key programme given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, officials said. Invitations for the programme were sent to her predecessor Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, leader of Opposition of the outgoing House Abdul Mannan, and CPI(M) veteran leader Biman Bose, the official said on Tuesday.

The rest of the cabinet and the council of ministers will be sworn in on May 9, which marks the birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore.

Moments after the swearing-in ceremony Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar said, "Our priority is that we must bring an end to this senseless violence that has affected society at large. I have every hope that the CM on an urgent basis will take all steps to restore rule of law."

The ceremony comes amid mounting pressure on the TMC government over the post-poll violence that claimed at least 14 lives in two days. Banerjee has asked the administration to control the violence at the earliest.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and the Union Home Ministry seeking a report from its state counterpart. BJP president J P Nadda also met the families of the victims.

In the recently concluded polls, the Trinamool Congress won 213 of 292 seats while the BJP finished second with 77 seats in the state.