In a major reshuffle after the expansion of the Sarbananda led Assam Government, new portfolios have been allotted to the ministers today.
Several ministers have also lost their previous departments and were given the charge of new ones.
Here are the allotted profiles of the ministers:
Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal – Home, Political, Personnel, GAD, SAD, Implementation of Assam Accord Administrative Reform & Training, Election, I&PR, Border Area Development, Sports & Youth Welfare, Revenue & DM
Himanta Biswa Sarma – Finance, PWD, Transformation & Development, Health & family Welfare
Atul Bora – Agriculture, Horticulture & Food Processing, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Town and Country Planning
Pramila Rani Brahma – Social Welfare, Soil Conservation
Keshav Mahanta – Water Resources, Science & Technology, Information Technology, Cultural Affairs,
Parimal Suklabaidya – Fishery, Excise, Environment & Forest
Ranjit Dutta – Handloom and Textile and Sericulture, Welfare of Minorities
Chandra Mohan Patowary – Commerce and Industry, Transport, Parliamentary Affairs, Act East Policy Affairs, Skill Entrepreneur & Employment
Siddhartha Bhattacharya – Education, GDD, Law & Justice
Sum Ronghang – Hills Area Development, Mines & Minerals
Phani Bhushan Choudhury – Food & Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Pension & Public Grievance
Chandan Brahma – Tourism, Welfare of Plain Tribes and Backward Classes
Rihan Daimary – Public Health engineering, Co-operation
Naba Doley – Panchayat & Rural Development (Independent), Cultural Affairs excluding Library & Archeology matters (Independent), environment & Forest (Asst Cabinet Minister as MoS)
Pallab lochan Das – Labour and Employment (Independent), Tea Tribes Welfare (Independent), Education (Asst Cabinet Minister as MoS)
Bhabesh Kalita – Irrigation (Independent), Revenue and DM (Asst Cabinet Minister as MoS)
Tapon Kumar Gogoi – Power (Independent), PWD (Asst Cabinet Minister as MoS)
Pijush Hazarika – Urban Development excluding T&CP (Independent), Health & FW (Asst Cabinet Minister as MoS)
The new cabinet reshuffle came as a shocker to many with BJP national president Amit Shah’s blue eyed boy Himanta Biswa Sarma giving away many portfolios to others. Sarma is left with Finance, Transformation and Development, Health and Family Welfare and Public Works Department (PWD).
PWD was headed by Parimal Suklabaidya since last two years, but now instead of PWD, he will head Environment and Forest, along with Excise and Fishery.
With Sarma giving away his responsibilities gradually, it is assumed by political observers that the man who brought BJP into power in many north-eastern states, has a major role to play in the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
This is the first time chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal has expanded his cabinet since taking charge in May 2016. The delay was due to internal compulsions within BJP and demands from coalition partners Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodo People’s Front (BPF) for more ministers.
Many BJP senior leaders are unhappy with Pijush Hazarika getting inducted into the ministry. Dibrugarh MLA Prasanta Phukan resigned from many responsibilities after today’s oath taking ceremony. He said, “If I am not eligible for being a minister than I feel I am not eligible for these responsibilities too.”
A student leader, folk singer, RSS worker and two ex-Congressmen are among the seven new ministers inducted into Assam’s BJP-led government on Thursday.
Four of the new ministers — Siddhartha Bhattacharya (BJP), Sum Ronghang (BJP), Chandan Brahma (BPF) and Phani Bhushan Choudhury (AGP) — have been given cabinet rank and Tapan Gogoi, Bhabesh Kalita and Pijush Hazarika (all from BJP) will be ministers of state with independent charge.
