BJP MLAs Jayanta Malla Baruah and Nandita Gorlosa on Thursday took oath as new ministers in Assam as Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma embarked on his cabinet’s first expansion, a month after completing one year in power.
Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi administered the oath of secrecy and office to the two first time ministers with Baruah and Gorlosa pledged in Assamese and English respectively.
Sarma took over as chief minister of Assam on May 10 last year after BJP returned to power in the assembly elections for a second consecutive term.
The Chief Minister’s Political Secretary Baruah is an MLA from Nalbari and Gorlosa represents the Haflong constituency in the Assembly.
Baruah is a former Congress MLA and was elected for the first time in 2011. However, he did not complete his term and defected to BJP after Sarma had left the grand old party to join the saffron brigade.
Gorlosa is a first time MLA from the BJP.
With the two new inductees, the BJP-led Assam government at present has 16 cabinet ministers and there is no one as minister of state.
As per the 91st amendment of the Constitution in 2003, the total number of ministers, including the chief minister, in a state should not exceed 15 per cent of the total number of members of the Legislative Assembly.
As the Assam Assembly has a strength of 126 MLAs, a maximum of 19 ministers can function at a time.
The BJP’s strength in the 126-member Assam Assembly is 63, while its allies AGP has nine and UPPL has seven MLAs.
In the opposition camp, the Congress’ strength is 27, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has 15 members and CPI(M) has one MLA. There is one Independent MLA also.
The Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), which has three MLAs, lent its support to the government in the Assembly, although it has not entered into any political alliance.
