Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal will induct two new faces in his council of ministers and the Assam BJP will hold elections for its state president’s post on Saturday.
Sources said Mahmora legislator Jogen Mohan and Tinsukia legislator Sanjoy Kishan will be the two new faces in the Sonowal ministry. A swearing-in ceremony for their induction will be held at the Raj Bhavan in the morning.
The step was necessitated after two ministers, Topon Kumar Gogoi from the Ahom community and Pallab Lochan Das from the tea tribe community, won the Lok Sabha elections last year.
Mohan, a member of the Ahom community, is seen as Gogoi’s replacement while Kishan, a tea tribe leader, is seen as a replacement for Das.
Mohan and Kishan, on invitation, arrived in Guwahati on Friday, a source said.
The induction of the two Upper Assam MLAs in Sonowal’s ministry comes at a time when the state is facing protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, especially in Upper Assam.
Sources said the state BJP election committee had received only one nomination for the state president’s post — that of Ranjeet Kumar Dass, the present president. The election will be held at Srimanta Madhabdev Auditorium in Panjabari. Sonowal and Himanta Biswa Sarma, a state cabinet minister and North-East Democratic Alliance convener, will be present.
“The election will be held, adhering to procedure. The party is in no mood to change the state leadership when Assam is going to the hustings next year,” the source said.
Assam’s council of ministers can have a maximum of 19 members, including the chief minister. With the fresh inductions, the ministry will have 18 members. The remaining berth is likely to be filled up in April, which will probably be the last induction before the Assembly polls next year.
