GUWAHATI — Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday expanded his cabinet
with four BJP MLAs sworn in as ministers.
Assam Governor Laxman Prasad Acharya administered the oath
of office to the four new ministers - Prasanta Phookan, Kaushik Rai, Krishnendu
Paul, and Rupesh Goala at the Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra here.
The chief minister and members of his cabinet were present
on the occasion.
''Congratulations to all my colleagues who have taken oath
today. Looking forward to working with them to fulfil Adarniya Shri
@narendramodi ji's vision of a Viksit Assam'', the chief minister posted on X.
Phukan is a four-time MLA from Dibrugarh, Paul a two-time
MLA from Patharkandi while Rai and Goala are first-time MLAs from Lakhipur and
Doom Dooma respectively.
Phukan and Goala represent the Upper Assam tea districts of
Dibruagah and Tinsukia respectively while Paul and Rai are from the two Barak
Valley districts of Sribhumi (formerly Karimganj) and Cachar.
Sarma now heads a 19-member council of ministers.
Tea Welfare and Labour minister Sanjay Kishan, who
represents the Tinsukia constituency, resigned from office on Thursday, to pave
the way for Goala with both representing the tea tribe community.
Kishan has since been appointed as the Chairman of the Assam
Food and Civil Supplies department.
Parimal Suklabaidya had resigned from the Himanta Biswa
Sarma cabinet after he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Silchar (SC)
constituency earlier this year.
All the new ministers thanked the chief minister for
including them in his ministry.
They also pledged to serve the people and work for the
development of the state.
The ministers are yet to be allocated their portfolios with
the chief minister likely to reshuffle and redistribute the departments among
the 19 ministers by Saturday evening.
The newly sworn-in ministers will attend their first cabinet
meeting later tonight.
Seventy-year-old Phookan is a BJP veteran and has
represented Dibrugarh constituency for four consecutive terms since 2006.
Goala, a former student leader belonging to the tea tribe,
had joined the BJP prior to the 2021 assembly elections.
The 46-year-old was given the party's ticket from Doom Dooma
constituency in Tinsukia district and emerged winner in his maiden outing at
the hustings.
From Barak Valley, 50-year-old first-time MLA Kaushik Rai
and his party colleague 51-year-old Krishnendu Paul have become ministers.
Sarma heads the NDA alliance government in the state with
two Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) ministers Atul Bora and Keshav Mahanta and United
Peoples' Party, Liberal (UPPL) U G Brahma members of his cabinet.
The ruling NDA has 84 members in the 126-member state
assembly.
The chief minister and 14 other ministers were sworn in on
May 10, 2021.
Sarma expanded his ministry on June 9, 2022, with the
induction of two BJP legislators Nandita Garlosa and Jayanta Malla Baruah as
ministers.
