BHUBANESWAR, FEB 21: Congress has decided in principle to abolish the post of Deputy Chief Minister in the states ruled by it and the ministry headed by Giridhar Gamang will have no such post.Disclosing this to newsmen at the airport here after his return from New Delhi, Gamang said that his ministry will be sworn-in on Monday at 3 pm. The Chief Minister said that he was awaiting clearance from the high command regarding the names of the ministers to be inducted in his council of ministers and its size. This will be known before the swearing in ceremony, he added.Asked whether he will have a two-tier or three-tier ministry, the Chief Minister said that it will be decided by the high command. Gamang had a five-hour long discussion with party chief Sonia Gandhi during his stay at New Delhi about ministry formation. He said that since there are no posts of deputy chief minister in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh where Congress governments were sworn in recently, the high command felt that in Orissa the postshould be abolished.Basant Kumar Biswal, who was the deputy chief minister in the erstwhile J B Patnaik government accompanied Gamang to Bhubaneswar from New Delhi on Monday. Congress government led by J B Patnaik which was sworn in on March 5, 1995 had two deputy chief ministers, the other one being Hemananda Biswal who has since taken over as PPC president. Though the invitation letter received from the Raj Bhavan on February 17 mentioned about swearing-in of Gamang as Chief Minister along with other ministers, it was Gamang alone who took the oath of office and secrecy.Asked about it later, the chief minister said he wanted to discuss the matter with Sonia about this.Meanwhile, hectic political activity marked Gamang's return here from Delhi ahead of the formation of the council of ministers.A large crowd including ministers in the J B Patnaik government and some MLAs were present at the airport to receive Gamang.
