Guwahati, June 29: Amid pulls and pressures from various quarters, Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi today got a breather when the influential Assam Jamiat-e-Ulema decided not to clamour for ministerial berths. Jamiat working president Badruddin Azmal, who is currently in the Saudi city of Jeddah, told The Telegraph that his organisation would not make any demand to the chief minister regarding the composition of his ministry.
In the past, the organisation had openly lobbied for plum ministerial berths for minority legislators of its choice and had also voiced its opinion on the size of minority representation in the ministry.
In a state where minority votes play a deciding role in five of the 14 parliamentary constituencies, the Congress has always tried its best to oblige the Jamiat to win its support in the elections.
It was alleged that Gogoi had made Rockybul Hussain the minister of state for home under pressure from the Jamiat. The chief minister had himself kept the home portfolio.
“We will not put any pressure or make any demand for seats or inclusion of any particular legislator in the government,” the Jamiat leader said.
Azmal said the chief minister should include good people in his ministry who would work for the people.
“Inshallah! Awam ki kam hona chahien (the government should work for the people),” he added.
According to the latest amendment to the Constitution, Gogoi is required to cut down the size of his ministry to 15 per cent of the total strength of the Assembly by July 7.
The process of trimming the government to 19 ministers from its present strength of 35 has already begun with all ministers resigning en block since Saturday to provide Gogoi with enough room to restructure his council.
Political observers, however, said the Jamiat’s change in approach vis-?-vis the Congress was not without any political compulsion.
They pointed out that the Jamiat’s decision could be part of the blow-hot, blow-cold attitude it has been maintaining towards the Congress over the past few months.
During the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, the Jamiat had convened at least two rounds of discussions with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) over lending support to the regional party. However, the discussions remained inconclusive and the Jamiat did not strike any deal with the AGP.
To woo the minority voters, Gogoi had promised before the general elections that the state government would fulfil all promises it had made to the community in the Congress manifesto.
The Congress leaders are, however, not willing to draw any political inference from the statement and maintained that on individual capacity, a few of the Jamiat leaders had already begun lobbying for plum portfolio for the legislators of their choice.