Original ones neglected
The long awaited Cabinet expansion of the Sarbananda Sonowal Ministry was carried out on April 26 after getting the green signal frpm the BJP headquarters. Seven MLAs were inducted into the ministfy. But the sad part of the episode is that the old and original members were neglected and few new members were preferred. Prasanta Phukan, a three-time MLA of Dibrugarh was a notable absentee. Prasanta Phukan got elected from the prestigious Dibrugarh LAC defeating the powerful Paban Singh Ghatowar. During that period BJP didn’t have a strong organisational base in Upper Assam and beating a Congress candidate was considered next to impossible. He was the architect of establishing the first flag pole of the BJP in Upper Assam. On the other hand, Piyush Hazarika who joined the saffron party on the eve of the Assembly polls was preferred over a senior and loyal leader like Prasanta Phukan. It is a bad decision on the part of the BJP leadership to neglect such a leader. Rest is upto Sarbananda Sonowal and Himanta Biswa Sarma to think and ponder.
Gaurav Chowdhury,
GNB Road Guwahati.
The New Ministers
As anticipated, the long cherished expansion of the Ministry led by Sarbananda Sonowal has been materialized with the swearing in ceremony of the newly inducted seven ministers. The name of Dibrugarh’s veteran MLA Prasanta Phukon is conspicuous by its absence. So is the case with Botodroba’s first time MLA Angurlata Deka. It rather amuses us to note that when the BJP harps on the string of ‘Beti’, there is not a single representation of the so called ‘Beti’ from BJP’s own end. The only consolation the woman folk can take is that there is at least one representation from among them in the person of Pramila Rani Brahma. In our opinion, Ranjit Dutta, the irrigation Minister, ought to have been removed from the Ministry, keeping in view the serious allegation labelled against him by a tainted official of the Irrigation Department who is in jail after being caught while accepting bribe. Water resource department’s Keshab Mahanta’s worth will be proved at the time of the next floods .The new ministers inducted ought to be careful about discharging their duties honestly, remembering ‘Action should speak louder than words'. We wish them all the best.
Ashok Bordoloi,
Dibrugarh.