At A meeting of the Left Front today, the RSP and the Forward Bloc agreed to reduce the number of their ministers in the West Bengal government following discussions to downsize the Cabinet.‘‘It has been decided to drop five ministers,’’ Debabrata Bandopadhyay, former state minister and general secretary of RSP, told reporters after the meeting. ‘‘While the CPI(M) will have to drop three ministers, the RSP and the Forward Bloc will drop one each. We have been given 15 days to decide on the ministers we want to drop,’’ he added.The trimming comes in the wake of the recent Bill passed in Parliament that aims to limit the number of ministers in each state in proportion to the number of legislators. According to the Bill, the number of ministers should not be more than 15 per cent of the number of legislators.Presently, West Bengal has 48 ministers against a total of 294 seats in the Assembly and when the Bill becomes an Act, the number of ministers has to be cut to 44. Left Front chairman Biman Bose refused to disclose the number of ministers to be dropped. ‘‘The only thing I can say is that decision to reduce the number of ministers has been taken,’’ he said.The issue had led to rumblings with the Forward Bloc and RSP refusing to drop their ministers. Sources said this prompted CPI(M) to drop its three ministers and insist that the FB and RSP drop one minister each.
