Guwahati, June 09: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday expanded his council of ministers for the first time since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition was voted back to power last year in the state. He inducted two legislators from his party and reshuffled the portfolios of some ministers.
Governor Jagdish Mukhi administered the oath of office and secrecy to Jayanta Malla Baruah and Nandita Garlosa. The strength of the council has now gone up to 16. BJP has 13 ministers while allies Asom Gana Parishad two and United Peoples’ Party Liberal one.
Baruah, 40, defected to the BJP in 2015 along with Sarma. A former chairman of Assam Tourism Development Corporation, he served as Sarma’s political secretary before his elevation as minister. “I am happy to have been given this new responsibility. I will continue to serve the people to the best of my ability,” Baruah said before taking his oath.
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He has been allocated the public health engineering, tourism, and skill, employment, and entrepreneurship departments.
A first-time lawmaker, Garlosa, 45, has a master’s degree in zoology. She has been given the power, mines and minerals, cooperation, and indigenous and tribal faith and culture departments.
