Chandra Mohan Patowary

Chandra Mohan Patowary (born 2 October 1955) is an Indian politician from Assam who has been serving as the Minister of Environment and Forests, Act East Policy Affairs, Welfare of Minorities in the cabinet of Himanta Biswa Sarma since 2021. He has been elected to the Assam Legislative Assembly six times from the Dharmapur constituency. He also served as a cabinet minister between 1996 and 2001 and from 2016 and 2021 and as the Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly from 2006 to 2011. He was the health minister of Assam from 1985 to 1990 and agriculture minister from 1996 to 2001. He was the president of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) during 2008–2011.^[2] He resigned owning responsibility for the party's poor performance in the 2011 Assam Legislative Assembly elections.^[3] In 2014, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of then BJP National President Rajnath Singh and State President of BJP Assam Pradesh Sarbananda Sonowal.^[4]

Chandra Mohan Patowary
Chandra Mohan Patowary in the background
Cabinet Minister, Government of Assam
Incumbent
Assumed office 24 May 2016
Chief Ministers	Sarbananda Sonowal Himanta Biswa Sarma
Portfolios	Transport (2016–2022) Commerce and Industry, Skill Entrepreneurship and Employment (2016–2022) Parliamentary Affairs (2016–2021) Act East Policy Affairs (2017–2021, 2022–present) Welfare of Minorities (2021–present) Environment and Forests (2022–present)
Preceded by	Ajit Singh (Transport) Siddique Ahmed (Commerce & Industry) Rakibul Hussain (Parliamentary Affairs) Ranjit Dutta (Minorities Welfare) Parimal Suklabaidya (Environment & Forests)
In office 12 June 1996 – 17 May 2001
Chief Minister	Prafulla Kumar Mahanta
Portfolios	Agriculture
Preceded by	Anwara Taimur
Succeeded by	Ardhendu Kumar Dey
Leader of the Opposition, Assam Legislative Assembly
In office 5 September 2007 – 5 September 2010
Preceded by	Position vacant
Succeeded by	Prafulla Kumar Mahanta
Constituency	Dharmapur
President, Asom Gana Parishad
In office 21 September 2008 – 14 May 2011
Preceded by	Brindaban Goswami
Succeeded by	Prafulla Kumar Mahanta
Member, Assam Legislative Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office 19 May 2016
Preceded by	Nilamani Sen Deka
Constituency	Dharmapur
In office 11 May 2006 – 13 May 2011
Preceded by	Nilamani Sen Deka
Succeeded by	Nilamani Sen Deka
In office 1985–2001
Preceded by	Bhumidhar Barman
Succeeded by	Nilamani Sen Deka
Personal details
Born	(1955-10-02) 2 October 1955 (age 69)
Citizenship	Indian
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party (from 2014)
Other political affiliations	Asom Gana Parishad (1985–2014)
Spouse	Rita Chowdhury
Education	M.A., LL.B.
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