Mamata Banerjee Rules Again, New Ministers Touch Her Feet

Kolkata: Mamata Banerjee was sworn in on Friday as West Bengal's chief minister for a second term, in the biggest oath ceremony Bengal has seen. 41 ministers took oath after her in batches of four, some touched her feet to seek blessings.

Cheering from front row seats were political heavyweights like Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

Massive cut-outs, more the style of Tamil Nadu's J Jayalalithaa than of Mamata Banerjee, lined Kolkata's Red Road. An entire stretch of the arterial road - which links important places in Kolkata like the state secretariat and the High Court - was cordoned off for the Trinamool Congress' celebration of a massive victory in the state elections last week.

"It is like the coronation of the Queen of Bengal. This cannot be the coronation of the Chief Minister. The kind of money that is being spent... I think the Queen of England would be put to shame," said Chandra Bose of the state BJP, which boycotted the oath ceremony, like the Congress and the Left.

They were not missed as workers of Ms Banerjee's Trinamool Congress thronged the venue raising slogans and smearing the party green on their faces. 
 Also present were Bihar's Lalu Yadav and Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the BJP's minister from Bengal Babul Supriyo represented the Centre.

This morning, Ms Banerjee tweeted about a "new beginning" for the people of Bengal and thanked all ministers and chief ministers for attending the ceremony.

The presence of leaders like Nitish Kumar, Arvind Kejriwal and Akhilesh Yadav is being seen as a new beginning of a third front of regional powerhouses to challenge the BJP and the Congress in the 2019 national election.
 After her win last week, Mamata Banerjee hinted at future political realignments at the national level when she talked about "friends I can work with," listing among them the leaders attending her oath ceremony, others like J Jayalalithaa and Mayawati, and also BJP allies like Chandrababu Naidu.

"No third front, second front. If at all this is a first front," said Derek O'Brien of Ms Banerjee's party.