There will be at least six new faces when Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi reconstitutes his Cabinet on Friday. Assam Governor (in-charge) PB Acharya, who has arrived in Raj Bhavan here on Thursday from Nagaland will administer the oath of office and secrecy to 14 Congress legislators in Assam, the list of which was sent to the Raj Bhavan on Thursday by the Assam Chief Minister.
On last Monday, 14 Ministers of Assam had resigned to pave way for the reshuffle of the Ministry, which had been pending for over two years now. There had been four vacancies in the erstwhile Ministry as the Chief Minister had last year dropped senior Ministers Ardhendu Kumar Dey and Siddeque Ahmed for dissident activities. State Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also resigned leading to a vacany followed by resignation of Transport Minister and Bodoland Peoples' Front (BPF) leader Chandan Brahma after the regional party broke its alliance with the Congress.
"The list of 14 legislators had been sent to Raj Bhavan on Thursday. The swearing-in ceremony will take place on Friday morning," said Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) Anjan Dutta, while addressing the media outside Assam Chief Minister's official residence at Koinadhara in the city on Thursday.
The six new faces to be inducted in the Cabinet include Chandan Sarkar, Girindra Mullick, Sukur Ali, Bismita Gogoi, Sumitra Patir and former parliamentary secretary Etuwa Munda. "Besides there will be senior leaders like Bhumidhar Barman and Sarat Borkotoky in the Cabinet," said Dutta adding that former Ministers in the erstwhile Cabinet like Rockybul Hussain, Nazrul Islam, Ajanta Neog, Basanta Das, Ajit Singh and Kharsing Ingty has also figured in the list.
This indicated that the Chief Minister had ignored eight Ministers in the former Cabinet that included Industries and Power Minister Pradyut Bordoloi, Planning and Development Minister Tanka Bahadur Rai, Water Resources Minister Rajib lochan Pegu, Revenue Minister Prithivi Majhi, Cultural Affairs Minister Pranati Phukan, Agriculture Minister Nilomonisen Deka, Social Welfare Minister Akon Bora and PHE Minister Goutan Roy.
Dutta, however, denied any discontent among the party legislators and said that the Congress is a united and disciplined party. "There is no discontent or any dissidence in Congress now. The State elections scheduled for 2016 is our target and we all have decided to work together for 2016 polls," he said.
It may be mentioned here that this is the first reshuffle in the last 14-year rule of the Congress party in Assam under the leadership of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. Gogoi who brought the Congress to the victory in 2001 remained an undisputed leader in the first two terms of his Government in office.
However, dissidence brewed in the party during the third term with a section of Congress leaders under the leadership of former Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma demanding a change in leadership. The dissident faction demanded the change in the leadership after the party's debacle in the last lok Sabha polls and they accused several key Ministers in the Gogoi Cabinet for failing to performing, which led to the debacle.
Although the dissidence was brought down by immediate and continuous intervention of the senior AICC leaders, the reshuffle was necessitated to put the House in order in Congress and also to face the 2016 elections.