Assam reshuffle: All ministers of Tarun Gogoi ministry resign

GUWAHATI: Paving way for the much-awaited reshuffle, all the 14 members of Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi's ministry today resigned from their respective positions.

All the ministers went together and submitted their resignations to the Chief Minister at his official residence this evening, an official said.

"In the meeting of the council of ministers, all the ministers have put in their papers so that the reshuffle can be carried out in a smooth manner," the official told PTI.

The Chief Minister has requested the ministers to continue working in their posts till the reshuffle is done.

"The new council of ministers is likely to take oath on January 23 after the Governor returns to the state," the source said.

After the Congress' Lok Sabha debacle in the state and emergence of dissidence last year, Gogoi has been maintaining that his Cabinet would be reshuffled.

The proposed reshuffle postponed many times and Gogoi had said that reshuffle would take place during first week of January.

However, newly elected Congress state unit president Anjan Dutta had requested to effect the reshuffle after Bhogali Bihu festival due to the training session of the party's sevadal in the state capital.

The bundle of resignations comprise letters of 11 cabinet ministers and three ministers of state with Independent charge.

The council of ministers include Prithibi Majhi (Revenue & Disaster Management, Labour & Employment and Tea Tribes Welfare), Tanka Bahadur Rai (Planning & Development, Judicial, Legislative, Pension and Public Grievance) and Gautam Roy (Public Health Engineering).

The others are Ajanta Neog (Public Works, GDD, Urban Development and Housing), Akon Bora (Social Welfare and Jail), Khor Sing Engti (Animal Husbandry & Veterinary, Mines & Minerals and Hill Areas) and Nazrul Islam (Food, Civil Supplies & CA, Welfare of Minorities Development, Health and Family Welfare).

Along with them, Nilamoni Sen Deka (Agriculture, Horticulture & Food Processing, Parliamentary Affairs and Irrigation), Pradyut Bordoloi (Industries & Commerce, Power, Public Enterprises and Education) and Pranati Phukan (Handloom, Textiles, Sericulture and Cultural Affairs) have also put in their papers.

Besides, Rockybul Hussain (Panchayat, Rural Development, Environment and Forest) have also resigned with his team.

The three ministers of state with independent charge Ajit Singh (Excise, Sports,Youth Welfare and Cooperation), Basanta Das (Fisheries, Information and Public Relation) and Rajib Lochan Pegu (Water Resources and WPT&BC-excluding BTAD areas) have offered to step down from their positions.