The exercise for downsizing ministries has begun in the Northeastern states with Assam CM Tarun Gogoi taking the lead. He left for New Delhi today to discuss his Ministry formation with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and PM Manmohan Singh, as he has to prune the size from 36 to 19.Admitting that downsizing ‘‘will be an unpleasant job’’, Gogoi, however, reiterated he ‘‘does not regard it a challenge as all his ministerial colleagues have been cooperative’’. Most of the ministers in his 36-member ministry have resigned. The dropped ministers may be put in charge of PSUs and state corporations, the CM hinted.Going by the stipulations laid down by the 91st Constitutional Amendment, Gogoi has to cut down his ministry to 19, which is 15 per cent of the strength of the state Assembly.‘‘Downsizing is difficult for a state which has a multi-ethnic population,’’ Gogoi said, pointing to the pressure groups within his party that represent different tribes and communities. Thus, Gogoi has put the stress on performance. ‘‘MLAs in whose constituencies the party performed better will get preference. Next, comes ethnic representation. The minister’s performance in the past three years will also be counted,’’ he said.The CMs of the other six states in the region are in a tough situation as they have small assemblies. Arunachal Pradesh CM Gegong Apang has to reduce his ministry strength from 43 to 12 in a House of 60. Meghalaya CM D.D. Lapang has already made all his ministers resign on Saturday. He has to drop at least 21 ministers to keep the Cabinet size at 12. So is the case with Manipur, where CM Okram Ibobi Singh has to drop 19 ministers, out of 31, to keep the figure at 12. Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio, too, has to drop 21 ministers to keep his Cabinet size at 12. Though he initially made vain attempts to convince the Centre to allow him to keep 15 ministers, he has finally decided to give in to the new stipulations.Interestingly, the seven N-E states will account for 125 of the nearly 250 ministers who will lose their portfolios all over the country by July 6. In Tripura, which too has a House of 60, CM Manik Sarkar, however, does not have a difficult choice. Here, the ruling Left is in a comfortable majority and he has to drop only six ministers. Likewise, in Mizoram, CM Zoramthanga has to drop only three ministers.
