Assam Cabinet Expansion With 4 New Ministers To Take Place On December 7: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday announced that the Assam Cabinet expansion will take place on December 7 at 12 PM. CM Himanta confirmed that four new ministers will be indicted in the state Cabinet. 

In a post on X, CM Himanta Biswa Sarma also named the MLAs, who are slated to take oath as the ministers. They are, MLA Prasanta Phookan, MLA Kaushik Rai, MLA Krishnendu Paul and MLA Rupesh Goala. 

The chief minister has also extended his good wishes to each one of the MLAs, who will take oath. 

All of them are BJP legislators with two - Kaushik Rai and Rupesh Goala - being first-time MLAs.

The 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 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.

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.

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.

(With inputs from PTI)