Biswa Sarma, 13 ministers sworn in

Guwahati, May 10: Himanta Biswa Sarma was on Monday sworn in as Assam’s 15th chief minister. Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sarma was administered the oath of office by Governor Jagdish Mukhi at the Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra in Guwahati. Clad in a traditional pat silk dhoti and kurta with a muga gamosa draped around his neck, Sarma — who is also the North East Democratic Alliance convenor — took the oath of office and secrecy in Assamese. Along with him, 13 other MLAs were sworn in as ministers. Among the MLAs sworn in, 10 were from the BJP including state party president Ranjeet Kumar Dass and ministers in the outgoing Sarbananda Sonowal government — Chandra Mohan Patowary, Parimal Suklabaidya, Jogesh Mohan and Sanjay Kishan. The new faces as ministers were Ranoj Pegu, Bimal Borah and the only woman in the cabinet, Ajanta Neog. Alliance partner Asom Gana Parishad’s Atul Bora and Keshab Mahanta, both ministers in the erstwhile Sonowal government, and former Rajya Sabha MP U G Brahma of the United People’s Party Liberal, also took the oath. BJP national President Jagat Prakash Nadda, outgoing chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Ministers Jitendra Singh and Ramesh Teli, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphu Rio and Assam Congress chief Ripun Bora were among those present at the ceremony.
Of the 126 assembly seats in Assam, the ruling alliance secured 75 seats with the BJP winning 60, the AGP (9) and the United People’s Party Liberal (6).
The BJP alliance is the first non-Congress government to win the assembly elections for a second consecutive term.

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