Gogoi awaits Sonia's nod for ministry rejig

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is awaiting final approval from Congress party president Sonia Gandhi on the much awaited reshuffle of his ministry.

Gogoi on Tuesday met Gandhi in New Delhi and the reshuffle is likely in the first week of November. Gogoi informed that he had submitted the list of new ministers to the Congress president for her approval.

There are four vacancies in the 18-member ministry. These include the dissident leader Dr Himanta Bishwa Sarma who had quit few months ago demanding removal of Gogoi as the CM and two more dissidents, Dr Ardhendu Dey and Siddique Ahmed, who were dropped by Gogoi. The vacancy also includes another minister Chandan Brahma, who quit after his party the Bodoland People’s Front snapped ties with the Congress.

In addition to filling these vacant ministerial positions, Gogoi is under pressure to remove a few of the ministers who have miserably failed to deliver over the years and were facing allegations of corruption and nepotism.

Moreover, there have been demands within the Congress legislature party to induct new faces in the ministry given that many of the incumbent ministers have been retained by Gogoi much to the consternation of those left out.

Gogoi is expected to neutralise some of the dissident MLAs through the reshuffle so that the dissident group becomes weaker before the 2016 assembly election at which time the Congress is likely to face a stiff challenge from the resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party.