Finally, Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal is set to expand his ministry
By Prasanta Mazumdar | Express News Service | Published: 25th April 2018 06:42 PM |
Last Updated: 25th April 2018 06:42 PM | A+A A- |
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal (File photo | PTI)
GUWAHATI: Nearly two years after Sarbananda Sonowal had taken oath as the Chief Minister of Assam in May 2016, he will expand his ministry on Thursday.
According to government sources, Sonowal will fill in seven of the eight vacant ministerial berths. Of the seven MLAs to be inducted, five are from the BJP. The party’s allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) will get one berth each.
The state’s Finance, Health and Education Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, on Wednesday disclosed the names of the MLAs to be inducted into the ministry.
“Phani Bhushan Choudhury (AGP), Siddhartha Bhattacharya (BJP), Sum Ronghang (BJP) and Chandan Brahma (BPF) will be inducted as Cabinet ministers and Piyush Hazarika, Bhabesh Kalita and Tapan Gogoi (all from BJP) as ministers of state with independent charge,” Sarma told reporters.
Choudhury and Brahma had earlier served as minister.
In the 126-member Assam Assembly, the size of the ministry cannot exceed 19. Sonowal and ten ministers had taken oath earlier. The AGP and the BPF had then got two ministers each.
Sonowal is now keeping one ministerial berth vacant, ostensibly to face exigency. The AGP and the BPF are mounting pressure on him demanding two ministerial berths each.
The ministry has just one woman, Pramila Rani Brahma of the BPF. The name of Batadrava MLA, Angoorlata Deka, was doing the rounds for a few days. However, she is being left out.
Phani Bhushan Choudhury, who is the lone AGP MLA to be inducted, said he had a challenge ahead.
“I am happy on being inducted into the ministry. At the same time, I feel tense given people’s expectations from this government. I will try to give my best shot,” he told The New Indian Express.
Siddhartha Bhattacharya, during whose tenure as the BJP’s state unit chief Sonowal had defected to the saffron party from the AGP, said he had not set his eyes on any particular department.
“I am ready to field wherever the captain will ask me to. I can field in the slip or the gully. It all depends on the Chief Minister,” he said.
