Suvendu to meet Shah on Thu over cabinet expansion

Kolkata: Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari is likely to meet Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday during his second visit to New Delhi after his swearing-in. Adhikari is likely to discuss the full expansion of the cabinet during the meeting, a source said.During their Delhi visit last week, both Adhikari and Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya held meetings with Shah, party's national president Nitin Nabin and Bengal BJP in-charge Sunil Bansal. Sources said Adhikari is likely to reach Delhi on Wednesday night and meet Shah the next day.While speculations were rife over possible names of ministers, BJP sources said the first list of the cabinet is likely to accommodate a little more than 30 ministers. BJP netas have said they were expecting a meeting around May 27 over the expansion of the cabinet.There are nearly 55 departments in the state and Adhikari is looking after 43 of them at present. Dilip Ghosh and Kshudiram Tudu are looking after three departments each, and Agnimitra Paul, Ashok Kirtania and Nishith Pramanik are looking after two departments each.Bengal BJP netas have maintained that the delay in the full expansion was due to strategic internal balancing. The party is considering aspirations of newly elected MLAs apart from caste and regional equations.With 208 seats in its kitty, the central leadership is carefully mapping out berths to maintain regional and caste balances. The party is trying to satisfy various crucial vote banks across different parts of the state, including north Bengal, south Bengal and minority-influence zones.