Hectic lobbying by NE groups for berths

GUWAHATI: With Congress winning as many as 13 out of 23 parliamentary seats from northeast, hectic lobbying is underway by different section for securing ministerial berths in the new council of ministers. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has already accommodated Bijoy Krishna Handique as a Cabinet minister.

Mr Handique had served as a MoS in two different ministries during Mr Singh's last government. First, as a minister of state for defence and later as MoS for chemicals & fertilisers. A veteran Congressman, Mr Handique has won for the sixth consecutive time from Jorhat and has been supervising execution of Rs 5,460 crore Assam gas cracker project. The project which had been facing roadblocks since a quarter century, was finally kick-started in 2007.
All Congress bigwigs including Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi are camping in Delhi to lobby for different MPs. Several Congress leaders in Meghalaya are lobbying hard for a Cabinet berth for Shillong MP Vincent Pala.

Congress sources said that the northeast is likely to get three berths. Two may be Cabinet ministers and the third a minister of state. In the last Union council of ministers too northeast had three berths.

During the tenure of the previous UPA government, Mr Sontosh Mohan Dev was heavy industries minister. However, he lost the elections this time and is out of the reckoning. During the same period, senior Congress leader from Meghalaya Kyndiah was given the ministry of development of the northeastern region and tribal affairs.
Barring Nagaland and Tripura, there is a Congress government in Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and a Congress-led government in Meghalaya.

Ex-CM of Arunachal Pradesh, and former governor, Mukut Mithi is among the ministerial hopefuls. The powerful tea lobby is pushing for inclusion of Paban Singh Ghatowar, Congress MP from Dibrugarh. A 13-member delegation which included ministers and MLAs led by Assam minister for forest, Rockybul Hussain, met Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mr Pranab Mukherjee and Ms Gandhi���s political secretary Ahmed Patel demanding a Cabinet berth for Congress MP Ismail Hussain. Congress MP from Lakimpur, Ranee Narah, wife Assam minister for cultural affairs, Bharat Narah, is also lobbying for a ministerial berth. Congress leaders in Manipur are lobbying for a berth too.

It���s just not the Congress that is lobbying. Bodo Peoples Front, an ally of the Congress government in Assam, has demanded a berth for its leader Sansuma Khunggur Bwismuthiary. Thokchom Meinya Singh is another MP in the race.
The only exceptions seem to be Assam United Democratic Front and the Nagaland People's Front, both of which have offered outside support for the UPA government.