Assam CM announces cabinet expansion on Dec 7
Dispur (Assam) (The Uttam Hindu): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said that the state cabinet expansion will take place on December 7. Four Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs will be inducted into the Assam Cabinet and will take the oath of office at noon on that day. In a post on Thursday on X, Chief Minister Sarma wrote, "Happy to share that the following colleagues will be sworn in as ministers in our cabinet on December 7 at 12 p.m. -- Prasanta Phookan (MLA), Kaushik Rai (MLA), Krishnendu Paul (MLA), and Rupesh Goala (MLA). My best wishes to each of them!"
Prasanta Phookan represents Dibrugarh, Kaushik Rai is from Lakhipur, Krishnendu Paul is from Patharkandi, and Rupesh Goala is from Doomdooma. The cabinet expansion will increase the strength of the Council of Ministers to 20. The Assam Assembly has a total strength of 126 MLAs, and as such, 19 ministers can function at a time. Meanwhile, Tea Welfare and Labour Minister Sanjoy Kishan resigned from office, according to an official.
Out of the new Ministers to be inducted, Sarma has selected two of them from the tea belt constituencies of Dibrugarh and Doom Dooma in Upper Assam, while the two others are from the Barak Valley constituencies of Lakhipur and Patharkandi. Phookan, 70, is a BJP veteran and has represented the Dibrugarh constituency for four consecutive terms since 2006. Goala, a former student leader belonging to the tea tribe, had joined the BJP before 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. In the Barak Valley constituency of Lakhipur in Cachar district, 50-year-old first-time MLA Kaushik Rai will get a ministerial berth along with his party colleague Krishnendu Paul (51) from Patharkandi in Karimganj. Paul is representing Patharkandi in the state Assembly for the second consecutive term since 2016.
CM Sarma heads an NDA alliance government in Assam. The ruling coalition has 84 members in the 126-member assembly. He expanded his Ministry on June 9, 2022, with the induction of two BJP legislators -- Nandita Garlosa and Jayanta Malla Baruah -- as Cabinet Ministers.
