Tightrope walk ahead for back-in-saddle Gogoi

His new ally has sought at least three berths. He also has to satisfy the aspirations of the tribes and various communities, especially Muslims, who may be eyeing important portfolios. And with the office of profit becoming a big issue, Gogoi obviously would not like to go back to the usual strategy of accommodating some of the legislators as chairpersons of boards and PSUs.

He may, however, draw solace from the fact that several senior Congress leaders, who had been aspiring for the CM’s post and had in some way or the other gone against him, lost the elections. They include former Law and Finance Minister Devananda Konwar, former PWD Minister Sarat Barkataki and Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Bhubaneswar Kalita.

On keeping Muslim legislators happy, Gogoi can breathe a bit easy, as the number of Muslims elected on the Congress ticket nose-dived from 19 in 2001 to nine this time, though the number of total Muslim MLAs has gone up by one as compared to the previous House. Several Muslim leaders of the party, including three of the five ministers in the last government, Irrigation Minister Ismail Hussain, Agriculture Minister Wazed Ali Choudhury and Tourism Minister Misbahul Islam Laskar, lost. New faces like journalist-turned-politician Abdul Khaleque have emerged.

Memoranda have been pouring in from different district committees of the Congress to appoint their respective legislators as ministers. The names include that of Pranati Phukan, three-time MLA from Naharkatiya (who was MoS for Culture before the downsizing in 2003), Gautam Bora, thrice elected from Batadrava (who used to be MoS for Education in the Hiteswar Saikia government in 1991-1996), and Jonjonali Barua, two-time Morigaon MLA whose husband was killed by the ULFA.

‘‘Who does not want to become a minister? But there are only 18 berths of which we will have to give a few to our ally,’’ said Himanta Biswa Sharma, Gogoi’s Planning and Development Minister in recent years.