After the Trinamool Congress' defeat in the recently held by-poll in West Bengal's Sagardighi, Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee removed Ghulam Rabbani as Minority Affairs Minister and kept the portfolio for herself. Mr Rabbani was allotted the Horticulture Department. The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting on Monday. Sources say part of the change is a result of the ongoing corrective measure since TMC's loss in the Assembly by-poll.
The government has also announced the creation of separate development boards for minorities and migrant labour. Sagardighi in the Murshidabad district has a huge minority population and is home to numerous migrant labourers.
The Sagardighi by-poll was held after the death of TMC MLA Subrata Saha. The party had been winning the seat since 2011. The TMC had fielded Debasish Banerjee in this by-election, but the Congress's candidate Bayron Biswas won by over 22 thousand votes.
The TMC has tapped into the minority vote in West Bengal, but the Sagardighi by-poll is an aberration. TMC sources say the party is addressing issues that led to this loss, and more changes are likely in the days to come.
Earlier, the TMC had changed the face of her party's minority outreach wing, appointing Itahar MLA Mosaraf Hossain as the president of the TMC's West Bengal minority cell in place of Haroa MLA Haji Nurul Islam.
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