GUWAHATI, March 31? The new president of the Assam Pradesh Congress (I) Committee (APCC-I), Sri Pawan Singh Ghatowar today asserted that he would develop goodwill among the tribal people of the state. Addressing a press conference after taking charge as the APCC-I president, Sri Ghatowar said that party?s primary duty is to unite all the tribal communities for building a greater Assamese society. ?Now time has come that we should work together for development of the state,? the president said. Sri Ghatowar further ruled out any rift with the Chief Minister, Sri Tarun Gogoi. ?There is no rift between Gogoi and me as reported in a section of press. I was appointed as the party chief with the blessings of Gogoi and the Congress high command, Smt Sonia Gandhi?, Sri Ghatowar added.
Asked whether he would reconstitute the party set up, Sri Ghatowar said ?I have some specific agenda and to implement the plans and programme there would be some minor changes in the party within this month. In this context he said that he would take all possible step to implement the election manifesto. People voted the Congress party overwhelmingly in the last two elections and hence the party would ensure that it?s election manifesto is properly implemented,? Sri Ghatowar said. On secret killings during the last AGP-regime, he revealed that the state government has already constituted a commission to find out the fact. ?It is not a healthy sign for our state if innocent people are got killed in the name of insurgency?, he added.
Asked about the state government?s failure to disburse the salaries of the government employees, the president said that the Chief Minister is trying his level best to clear the salaries timely. What is more alarming is that the financial situation of the state is grim due to misdeads of the last government, but in spite of that, the state government is laying stress on resource mobilisation, he said. Earlier, Sri Ghatowar was given a warm felicitation at a party meeting held at Rajiv Bhawan today, in which the outgoing president Sri Tarun Gogoi handed over charge. During the meeting, Sri Gogoi appealed to the party workers to extend full cooperation to the new president.
Though Sri Ghatowar ruled out any rift with the Chief Minister, it is learnt that he will induct some new faces into the party to strengthen his position. A section of party workers who did not wish to be named told this correspondent that some senior leaders close to Sri Gogoi are disappointed with the decision of the party high command. They said that under the leadership of Gogoi the state Congress has achieved desired results in the last two elections and hence (Gogoi) should remain as the president.