Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma expanded his Cabinet by inducting four Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs as Ministers on Saturday (December 7, 2024), a little more than a year ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections in the State.
The MLAs – Prasanta Phukan representing the Dibrugarh seat, Kaushik Rai (Lakhipur), Krishnendu Paul (Patharkandi) and Rupesh Goala (Doomdooma) – were sworn in by Governor Laxman Prasad Acharya.
The Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues were present at the oath-taking ceremony. A four-time MLA since 2006, Mr. Phukan and the first-timer Mr. Goala are from the tea-growing belt of eastern Assam. Mr. Paul, in his second term, and Mr. Rai, a first-timer represent southern Assam’s Barak Valley dominated by Bengali speakers.
“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.
He now heads a 19-member Council of Ministers in the BJP-led coalition government with the induction of the four MLAs.
Three Ministerial berths were vacant before the Saturday’s (December 7, 2024) swearing-in. While one was kept vacant, two were vacated by BJP veterans Parimal Suklabaidya and Ranjit Dutta, who were elected as MPs from the Silchar and Tezpur constituencies earlier this year
The fourth slot was created by dropping Sanjay Kishan as the Labour and Tea Tribe Welfare Minister. He was appointed as the chairman of the Assam Food and Civil Supplies Corporation.
Congratulating him, Mr. Sarma wrote: “Thank you for your exceptional work and best wishes for serving the people of Assam in your new role as Chairman of Assam Food and Civil Supplies Corporation.”
“It is an honour that the party has found me worthy of the new assignment, which I hope to do justice to,” said Mr. Phukan, known for his theatrics such as riding a bullock cart to the Assembly to protest fuel price hike.
Mr. Goala (46) is a former student leader from the “tea tribe” community. He joined the BJP from the Congress before the 2021 Assembly polls. Mr. Paul (51) and Mr. Rai (50) are from the Sribhumi (formerly Karimganj) and Cachar districts respectively.
The last time Mr. Sarma expanded his Ministry was in 2022 when BJP legislators Nandita Garlosa and Jayanta Malla Baruah were appointed as Ministers.
A maximum of 19 can be inducted into the Ministry in the 126-member Assam Assembly. The BJP heads the three-party NDA government, which has 84 MLAs. The Asom Gana Parishad and United People’s Party Liberal are the two other constituents of the government.
