UNB, New Delhi :
Speculation is rife that Bollywood singer Babul Supriyo may be made a minister in Bengal government, as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee rejigs her Cabinet on Monday in the wake of the cash-for-jobs scam.
Mamata on Thursday sacked Partha Chatterjee, one of her senior ministers, from her Cabinet as well as from all posts of her ruling Trinamool Congress party, days after he was arrested for his alleged involvement in the school teachers’ recruitment scam.
Chatterjee held several portfolios in the state Cabinet, including Commerce and Industry, IT and electronics, and Industrial Reconstruction. He was also the Trinamool Congress party’s general secretary.
“Supriyo and two other new faces are likely to be inducted as ministers into the Cabinet by Mamata later in the day. A few serving Ministers may be axed too. Mamata may also keep some portfolios with her,” sources close to the ruling party told UNB.
Supriyo joined the Trinamool Congress party in September 2021, two months after he was dropped as a federal minister by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The 50-year-old joined politics and India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) some eight years ago. He served as junior Urban Development Minister and Minister of State for Heavy Industries in BJP government’s first tenure. He was the junior Environment and Forest Minister in the second term.
Born Supriya Baral, he entered Bollywood as a playback singer in the mid-nineties and has sung for many films since then. He has also done playback singing in 11 Indian languages during his musical career.
