Guwahati, July 7: Two days after trimming his ministry ?under compulsion?, Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi sought to placate sidelined senior leaders by promising to shuffle the government next year. Gogoi pleaded with those who missed the bus not to lose heart, saying he would ensure that their ?status? as leaders remains the same. ?We will rehabilitate them appropriately,? he said, hoping the assurance would end the rebellion in former PWD minister Sarat Barkotoky?s hometown Sonari and a couple of other Congress bastions.
The chief minister told the media at Janata Bhawan that the new composition of his government had been finalised by the AICC. ?Next year, we will have a ministry that will be election-oriented,? he said, indicating that the senior ministers on whom the downsizing axe fell may be reinstated.
Assembly elections are two years away.
Gogoi was at pains to explain that downsizing his ministry was a difficult exercise. ?It is not that I have anything against the ministers who have not been retained. All are capable, but only 19 could be persisted with.?
He admitted it was ?natural? for those left out to be aggrieved.
The chief minister said he had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party Congress Sonia Gandhi, requesting them to press for another amendment to the Constitution to raise the maximum strength of the Assam ministry to 20 per cent of the size of the Assembly.
The 97th Amendment stipulates that the size of any ministry should not exceed 15 per cent of the strength of the Assembly.
Gogoi made a case for an exception, as a couple of other northeastern states have done, by citing the diversity of Assam?s population and the need to include representatives of all sections of the government.
The chief minister?s sympathy for the dropped ministers, however, gave way to anger when the topic changed to protests by supporters of these leaders. ?I have accepted it till now, but am not going to tolerate it from tomorrow.?
Supporters of former agriculture minister Ardhendu Dey and Barkotoky have called bandhs and blocked trains in Hojai and Sonari Assembly constituencies.
?This is ridiculous,? the chief minister said of the bandhs.
He dismissed the possibility of a revolt by the leaders themselves. ?These things subside after three or four days.?
Gogoi?s confidence appeared justified when three Independent legislators joined the Congress, expressing ?full confidence in the chief minister?. He described the development as a ?homecoming? for the three legislators ? Samsul Haque (Sorbhog), Sultan Siddique (Naoboicha) and Siddique Ahmed (Karimganj South) ? because they were originally members of the Congress.
One of the dropped ministers, however, dismissed the chief minister?s promise to shuffle the ministry next year as ?a lollypop?.
?He (Gogoi) has not realised that we are no longer children and that we have outgrown lollipops. In any case, why should he shuffle (the ministry) when he has got those whom he wanted?? he asked.
The former minister also refused to buy Gogoi?s claim that the AICC selected the 19-member ministry. ?That is rubbish. Gogoi insisted on his men,? he said.
The disgruntled leader signed off with a warning. ?Gogoi must read the writing on the wall in his interest and, more importantly, in the greater interest of the party.?