Guwahati/New Delhi, July 1: Making a last-ditch effort to remain in the government, Assam PCC veterans have asked chief minister Tarun Gogoi to choose them over their younger colleagues in the new ministry because of their experience. The veterans said that as younger MLAs have age on their side, they could wait before joining the ministry.
AICC general secretary in charge of the Northeast, Digvijay Singh, today said the final list of ministers to be retained after the downsizing would be completed within the next couple of days.
?The chief minister has full liberty to decide his team and we are here only to supplement his efforts. We are not going to interfere with the names suggested by him,? Singh said after a 30-minute meeting with Tarun Gogoi at Assam Bhavan.
The veteran PCC leaders reportedly told both Gogoi and PCC president Paban Singh Ghatowar that with Assembly elections drawing near, the young leaders would be more helpful in the party.
?The elders should be given preference because experience is required to run a government. The younger leaders should not rush in, they have age on their side,? a senior minister said.
The game of one-upmanship between the older and younger generations in the ruling Congress began in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections when Youth Congress chief Rekibuddin Ahmed suggested that the 70-plus leaders in the party should retire to make way for the younger generation.
Veterans like Union minister of state Santosh Mohan Dev scoffed at the idea and even took to task the youth brigade for floating such an ?absurd idea.? He had made known the ?importance of experience? to the youth leaders.
A leader said the prime targets of the ?grey brigade? were Gogoi?s troubleshooters ? social welfare minister Gautam Roy and minister of state for planning and development Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Nagaland exercise: All ministers in Nagaland belonging to the Nagaland People?s Front and some from the BJP will resign on Monday. This was decided at a marathon meeting chaired by chief minister Neiphiu Rio today, adds our Kohima correspondent.
Ministers from the BJP will separately decide on their resignations, party sources said.
Thanks to the downsizing exercise, from the 36 ministers including the chief minister, only 12 will be retained, including Rio. Rio has said all tribes may not find representation in the new ministry.
PCC chief S.C. Jamir, who has been given a gubernatorial assignment in Goa, will be given a formal sendoff on Monday, party sources said. Hokheto Sumi is slated to be the next PCC president. Currently the working president, Sumi is a former Congress legislator and minister.