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Gogoi to be sworn in CM on May 17

      Guwahati: Tarun Gogoi has unanimously been elected as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party and will be sworn in as Asom's Chief Minister on May 17. Gogoi, who was elected unopposed, will stake claim to form government in the state at 3 p.m. today. The All India Congress Committee in-charge of Asom, Digvijay Singh and Congress party observers Mohsina Kidwai and Chandan Bagchi, have extended their full support to Gogoi. Gogoi, accompanied by Hagrama Basumatary, Chief of the Bodoland Peoples' Progressive Front (Hagrama), who with 11 MLAs had pledged support to the Congress party, will meet Governor Lt Gen Ajay Sinha to stake his claim to form the next government in the state. The ruling combine has submitted a list of 64 legislators. The AUDF has also extended unconditional support along with the NCP. The AUDF has 10 MLAs and NCP has one MLA. ''If they have offered us support, we can say thank you. But Congress party and BPPF (H) have the adequate numbers,'' Digvijay Singh said. Gogoi will leave for New Delhi after a few hours to meet Congress party president Sonia Gandhi to finalise the list of ministers to be included in the Cabinet. The BPPF(H) has demanded five to six ministerial posts. The Congress party is willing to give two ministerial posts along with the post of deputy speaker. Negotiations on the matter are on and some decision will be taken soon, said Asom Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma. The Congress party has emerged victorious with 53 seats in the 126-member Assembly seat. Possible rivals like Ardhendu Dey, Devananda Konwar, Bhubaneshwar Kalita and even Anjan Dutta lost in the election, paving a hassle free way for Gogoi for his next and the second term.

     Tarun Gogoi was born to Kamaleswar and Usha Gogoi on April 1, 1936 at Rangajan Tea Estate in Jorhat district. He graduated from J B College in Jorhat but did Law from Guwahati University. During his student life he held important position in Students' Union including Commandership of Students' Volunteer Corps. Gogoi started his career as a lawyer but was simultaneously involved in socio political activities. In 1968, he was elected as a member of Jorhat Municipal Board. By this time, he had established himself as a capable youth leader of Assam. Late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi spotted this promising young talent and in 1971 entrusted him with the responsibility of organising the youth community of the state. In the same year (1971), Gogoi was elected to the fifth Lok Sabha. In 1976, he became the Joint Secretary of All India Congress Committee. And in 1977, he was re-elected to the sixth Lok Sabha. Then again, he was re-elected to the seventh Lok Sabha in 1983. He became the General Secretary of All India Congress Committee in 1985. During 1986-90, he served as the President of Assam Pradesh Congress(I) Committee. Gogoi was elected for the fourth time to the 10th Lok Sabha in 1991. During that time, he was also the Vice President, APCC (I). During 1991-93, he was the Union Minister of Food (Independent Charge). From 1993 to 1995, he held the portfolio of Food Processing Industry as the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge). During 1996-98, he was elected Member of Assam Legislative Assembly from Margherita constituency. He was elected as a member of Parliament for the fifth time in 1998 to the 12th Lok Sabha. Again in 1999, Gogoi was re-elected to the 13th Lok Sabha for the sixth time. Since 1996, he has been the President of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee. For Gogoi, years of hard work finally fructified with the Congress securing 70 seats in the 126-member state assembly in 2001. And on May 17, he was sworn-in as the sixteenth Chief Minister of Assam. Tarun Gogoi is a widely - travelled man and his favorite pastime is reading and gardening. He loves sports too. He married Dolly Gogoi in 1972 and they are blessed with a son and a daughter.

Karunanidhi sworn in as TN CM

       Chennai: Dravida Munnettra Kazgham (DMK) Chief M Karunanidhi with his 31-member ministry was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu today for the fifth time. Governor Surjit Singh Barnala administered the oath of office and secrecy at the Nehru Indoor Stadium here to the 82-year-old leader, who is heading a coalition government in the State for the first time. Karunanidhi, accompanied by Cabinet colleagues, paid respects to rationalist leader Periyar E V Ramasamy, his mentor CN Annadurai and Congress party leader K Kamaraj by visiting their memorials. After Karunanidhi took the oath, K Anbazhagan, Arcot N Veerasamy and M K Stalin followed suit as finance, electricity and local administration ministers respectively. People were elated as the Governor invited Stalin, who is Karunanidhi's son, to assume office. Though it is 22 seats short of an outright majority, it has the unconditional support of the Congress party and other smaller parties. With 96 seats, DMK has fallen short of the majority mark of 118 by 22 seats and the gap will be filled by Congress' 34, PMK's 18, CPI(M)'s 9 and CPI's 6 in the 234-member Assembly seat. The 31-member list includes 19 first-time ministers and even young faces of the party including son M K Stalin, Deputy General Secretary Parithi Ilamvizhudi and Poongothai, the daughter of slain former Minister Aladi Aruna. The list of ministers who swore-in with Karunanidhi included, K Anbazhagan, Arcot N Veerasamy, M K Stalin, Ko Si Mani, Veerapandi Arumugam, Duraimurugan, P T R Palaivel Rajan, K Ponmudi, K N Nehru, M R K Panneerselvam, I Periyasamy, N Suresh Rajan, Parithi Ilamvazhuti, A V Velu, Suba Thangavelan, K K S S Ramachandran, T M Anbarasan, K R Periyakaruppan, N K K P Raja, Thangam Tennarasu, S N M Upayathulla, T P M Mohideen Khan, N Selvaraj, Vellakovil Saminathan, Dr Poongothai Aladi Aruna, Geetha Jeevan, Tamilarasi, K P T Sami, U Mathivanan and K Ramachandran.

    Born in the backward Isai Vellala community in the obscure village of Thirukuvalai in Thanjavur district, to Muthuvel and Anjugam on June 3, 1924, Karunanidhi has climbed up a difficult ladder to become one of the towering personalities in Indian politics. Known for his shrewd administrative skills and political manoeuvring, Karunanidhi became Chief Minister for the first time on Feb 10, 1967, after the death of Annadurai. In his political history, Karunanidhi has earned the reputation of always assessing the political situation in the State correctly. Sources close to him say that his ability to foresee the turn of political events made him an able administrator.

Buddha Bengal CM, No Kerala CM yet

      New Delhi: Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders today cleared the name of Buddhadeb Bhattacharya as chief minister of West Bengal for a second consecutive term, but decided to keep the top slot in the other Red bastion, Kerala, vacant till Monday. While Bhattacharya found it easy to get his name cleared by the politburo, the highest authority of the CPI(M) party, VS Achuthanandan, the leader of Kerala's Left Democratic Front and the architect of the latest electoral triumph, found the going tough. "The politburo will now give its opinion to the State steering Committee" and only after consulting their members the Party would name the next Chief Minister of Kerala said the CPI (M) General Secretary Prakash Karat here today. Except veteran Left leader Jyoti Basu, the meeting was today attended by all the politburo members, including V S Achuthanandan, a front runner for the coveted post. Achuthannadan as a loyal comrade of the party refrained to speak anything about the meeting and the decision taken. His only reply was "contact our General Secretary Prakash Karat". In the 61 Assembly seats won by the CPI (M) in Kerala, Pinnayari Vijayan, CPI (M) State party secretary and arch rival of VS has garnered the support of a majority number of party MLA's thereby making it difficult for the 83 year old Achuthannandan. Achuthanandan who hails from the demographically strong backward caste of Ezhavas not only has his adversaries in the party, even opposition party leaders like Congressmen A.K.Anthony have reservations about him becoming the next Chief Minister of the State. Seen as a conservative Marxist, who abhors liberalisation, Achuthanandan, however, is being credited for bringing Left back to power in the State, a view he has completely rejected. Achuthandan on Friday had said that among many factors that led to the LDF's decisive win in the State, he was not the one. But whether among the many runners for the post of Chief Minister he is the only one could be finally out on May 15 when the final suspense on Kerala would be broken by the Left leaders.