Guwahati, Dec 9 (IANS) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday asserted that in order to free himself up for the upcoming Assembly election in the state, he had given the ministers control over a number of departments that were under his purview.
In light of the next assembly elections in 2026, he stated that he would free up his time to work on further projects.
“I want to focus on the next Assembly election for the next year. As a result, I have made the decision to lessen the workload for the departments that supported me,” he said.
Sarma went on to say that for the upcoming year, he will spend as much time as possible with people.
He said, “I shall devote more time to the people of Assam in the upcoming year. The cabinet was expanded for this reason.”
Four ministers Prasanta Phookan, Kaushik Rai, Krishnendu Paul and Rupesh Goala were inducted into the Cabinet on Saturday.
This is the first expansion of the Cabinet since Himanta Biswa Sarma took the Chief Minister’s post in the state three years ago.
In the cabinet, there were four vacant berths—three existed since the beginning of Sarma taking the post of Chief Minister, and one position got vacant after former minister Parimal Suklabaidya won this year’s Lok Sabha polls in the state.
Kaushik Rai is a replacement for Parimal Suklabaidya as both of them belong to the same Cachar district in the Barak valley.
Prasanta Phookan is an MLA from Dibrugarh, and Krishnendu Paul is from the Patharkandi Assembly constituency in the Sribhumi district.
Rupesh Goala is a legislator from the Doom Dooma constituency in the Tinsukia district.
Both Rai and Gola became MLAs in the 2021 Assembly polls while Paul won on a BJP ticket twice from the Patharkandi Assembly seat in the 2016 and 2021 Assembly polls. He was once a Congress leader and switched sides before the 2016 Assembly election.
On the other hand, Prasanta Phookan is a senior BJP leader and a four-time MLA from Dibrugarh. He has not lost here since the 2006 Assembly election.
Meanwhile, Sanjay Kishan was asked to resign from the minister’s post and he was replaced by Rupesh Goala.
However, Sarma had said that Kishan would continue to concentrate on his Assembly and the party would give him proper responsibility.
–IANS
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