Assam's Himanta Biswa Sarma Has 2 New Ministers: Long-Time Aide, First-Time MLA

Himanta Biswa Sarma became Chief Minister in May last year after BJP won second consecutive term (File)

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma inducted BJP MLAs Jayanta Malla Baruah and Nandita Gorlosa into the state cabinet on Thursday, a month after the BJP government completed a year in office. Governor Jagdish Mukhi administered the oath to the first-time ministers.  

Mr Baruah, who was the Chief Minister's Political Secretary, is the MLA from Nalbari and was formerly a Congress leader. He was elected for the first time in 2011 on a Congress ticket but did not complete his term as he defected to the BJP along with Mr Sarma in 2015.

Nandita Gorlosa, who represents Haflong, is a first-time MLA from the BJP. She took oath in English, while Jayanta Malla Baruah chose Assamese.

In the august presence of Hon Governor Prof @jagdishmukhi I am happy to have attended oath-taking ceremony of Smt @GorlosaNandita & Shri @jayanta_malla as new cabinet ministers.

My best wishes for their contributions to ensuring all-round development & public welfare in Assam. pic.twitter.com/I3nUjKxgrE

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) June 9, 2022

Himanta Biswa Sarma became Chief Minister on May 10 last year after the BJP won a second consecutive term. 

The government now has 16 ministers, including the Chief Minister. As per the 91st Amendment of the Constitution in 2003, the number cannot exceed 15 per cent of assembly strength. As the Assam assembly has 126 members, 19 ministers can function at a time, which means there are still three vacancies. 

The cabinet expansion on Thursday saw portfolios being reshuffled too.

Nandita Garlosa has been allotted the departments of power and cooperation, among others. Jayanta Malla Baruah is the minister for tourism, public health engineering, and skill employment and entrepreneurship.

Chief Minister Sarma has kept with himself the departments of home affairs, personnel, public works, and any other not allotted to any minister.

Among those already in the cabinet, Ranjit Kumar Das has got the department of panchayat and rural development. Atul Bora has the departments of agriculture. Chandra Mohan Patowary has been allotted the department of environment and forests, besides some others. Parimal Suklabaidya is the transport minister.

Health ministry is with Keshab Mahanta. Ranoj Pegu has been allotted the education department. Ajanta Neog has the finance ministry.
 

(With inputs by PTI)