Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday handed over appointment letters to 11,000 aspirants in the first major police recruitment drive under the BJP government, saying the change of guard in the state had made it possible.

He claimed that Bengal would surpass Uttar Pradesh in the number of police personnel within the next two years.

"I do not want applause, nor do I want credit. I only want to say that this recruitment would not have happened if the government had not changed," Adhikari said after handing over the appointment letters at Netaji Indoor Stadium here.

Recruitment to the state police force had remained stalled for a prolonged period.

After the BJP came to power in the state in May, the government cleared the police recruitment process, presenting it as the beginning of a wider drive to fill government vacancies.

"Morning shows the day," the chief minister said.

Addressing the event, he urged the newly appointed police personnel to remain free of corruption and uphold integrity in the discharge of their duties.

This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.