Tarun Gogoi Tarun Gogoi (11 October 1936 – 23 November 2020) was an Indian politician who served as the Chief Minister of Assam from 2001 to 2016. He was a member of the Indian National Congress and led the party to a record three consecutive electoral vi ...

constituted his first ministry and became the 13th

Chief Minister of Assam The chief minister of Assam, an Indian state, is the head of the Government of Assam. As per the Constitution of India, the governor is the state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following e ...

on 17 May 2001. Following the 2001 Assam Legislative Assembly election, Gogoi became Chief Minister succeeding AGP chief minister

Prafulla Kumar Mahanta Prafulla Kumar Mahanta is an Indian Politician who was the leader of the Assam Movement, a former Chief Minister of Assam (two terms) and the former President of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), a major political party in the Indian state of Assam ...

. There were 12 cabinet ministers and 4 ministers of state in the ministry. Gogoi along with his cabinet was sworn in by governor

Srinivas Kumar Sinha Lieutenant General Srinivas Kumar Sinha, PVSM, ADC (January 7, 1926 – November 17, 2016) was an Indian Army General who served as the Vice Chief of Army Staff. After his retirement, he served as Governor of the states of Jammu and Kashmir, ...

, succeeding

on 18 May 2001. The hour-long ceremony took place at

Raj Bhavan Raj Bhavan () is the common name of the official residences of the governors of the states of India and may refer to: List of Raj Bhavan See also * Raj Niwas *Rashtrapati Bhavan *Rashtrapati Nilayam *Rashtrapati Niwas The Rashtrapati Niwas ...

at 14:00.

and

Bhubaneswar Kalita Bhubaneswar Kalita (born 1 April 1951) is an Indian social worker, politician and was a Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) elected from Assam being an Indian National Congress candidate. He quit his party on 5 August citing the party is opposed ...

, who challenged Gogoi's claim to become Chief Minister in the wake of the election results, both did not attend the ceremony. No

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

or AGP legislators attended the ceremony either. Among those who attended were Congress General Secretary in charge of Assam Kamal Nath, AICC member

Jagdish Tytler Jagdish Tytler (born Jagdish Kapoor; 17 August 1944) is an Indian politician and former Member of Parliament. He has held several government positions, the last being as Minister of State for Overseas Indian Affairs, a post from which he resigne ...

and several congress MPs from Assam. The cabinet had two female ministers, including Hemoprova Saikia who was the wife of former Chief Minister

Hiteswar Saikia Hiteswar Saikia (3 October 1936 – 22 April 1996) was the chief minister of Assam for two terms, first from 28 February 1983 to 23 December 1985 and then from 30 June 1991 to 22 April 1996. Family and education Hiteswar Saikia was born on 3 ...

. The cabinet also included former

Bhumidhar Barman Bhumidhar Barman (12 October 1931 – 18 April 2021) was an Indian Politician belonging to the Indian National Congress. He was the Chief Minister of Assam from 22 April 1996 to 14 May 1996. He was a member of the Assam Legislative Assembly bei ...

. 10 of the 17 ministers were ministers in previous congress governments in Assam. Gogoi stated that he held out hope for the newly elected MLAs, and stated that he would carry out an expansion of the ministry in a month. The expansion took place on 7 June 2002. The expansion included several newly elected MLAs including

Robin Bordoloi Capt. Robin Bordoloi, is an Indian politician, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Son of Gopinath Bordoloi, he is from the State of Assam. He was elected to Dispur constituency in 2001, winning against AGP founder and former Chief Mini ...

, son of the first

Gopinath Bordoloi Gopinath Bordoloi (6 June 1890 – 5 August 1950) was a politician and Indian independence activist who served as the first Chief Minister of Assam. He was a follower of the Gandhian principle of non-violence as a political tool. Due to his un ...

, and

Himanta Biswa Sarma Himanta Biswa Sarma (born 1 February 1969) is an Indian politician serving as the 15th and incumbent Chief Minister of Assam. A former member of the Indian National Congress political party. Sarma joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on 23 August ...

who is the current

. During the ministry self employment schemes to counter terrorism, the Police Commission for smooth functioning of administration of State, the Chief Vigilance Commission to prevent corruption and the right to information bill were all established.

Cabinet Ministers

2002 Expansion

On 7 June 2002, Gogoi expanded his ministry by including some new ministers. The previous ministers stayed as ministers apart from some ministers of state who were promoted.

References

{{Reflist Assam ministries Cabinets established in 2001 Indian National Congress state ministries 2001 in Indian politics