A 14-member new team of ministers were sworn-in on January 23 by Assam’s Governor P.B. Acharya after all the 14 ministers in his previous team resigned en masse on January 19 to facilitate Gogoi to effect much awaited reshuffle. He chose six from his 14-member previous team and inducted eight new faces including Congress veterans like former Chief Minister Bhumidhar Barman and former minister Sarat Barkataky to curb dissidence. Mr Gogoi is likely to effect a second phase of reshuffle to fill up four more vacancies in his ministry after the elections to municipal bodies and town committees in the state which are scheduled for February 10. Obviously, this is to keep the hope among the ministerial berths aspirants floating and apparently signaling them to strive for best performance in these poll in order to stake claim for a berth when Gogoi effects the second phase of reshuffle to expand the new team.

A major campaign against the Congress-led government by the opposition parties was focused on the Environment and Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain was centred round the growing incidents of poaching of rhinos in Kaziranga National Park as well as in other national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.

The cabinet ministers and their portfolios in the 14-member new Gogoi team are: 1. Bhumidhar Barman (Revenue & Disater Management, Administrative Reforms & Training, Implementation of Assam Accord), 2. Sarat Barkotoky (Education, Pension & Public Grievance), 3. Ajanta Neog ( Public Works (Roads & Building, NH), Panning & Development, Judicial, Legislative, Law, 4.Nazrul Islam (Food, Civil Supplies & CA, Health & Family Welfare), 5. Rokybul Hussain (Panchayat & Rural Development, Agriculture, Horticulture & Food Processing, Parliamentary Affairs), 6. Chandan Kr Sarkar (Irrigation, Soil Conservation), 7. Khor Singh Engti (Animal Husbandry & Veterinary, Cooperation, Hill Areas), 8. Sukur Ali Ahmed (Public Health Engineering, Welfare of Minorities Development), 9.Ajit Singh (Transport, Excise, Sports & Youth Welfare), 10. Basanta Das (Fisheries, Water Resources, Scheduled Castes Welfare) and 11. Atuwa Munda (Environment & Forest, Tea Tribes Welfare).

The three Ministers of State (Independent Charge) are: Sumitra Doley Patir (Tribal Welfare, Housing, Tourism), Girindra Mallik (Mines & Minerals, Jail, Border Areas and Bismita Gogoi (Cultural Affairs,Handloom, Textiles & Sericulture, Backward Classes Welfare).

The Six ministers in the new team -  Ajanta Neog, Nazrul Islam, Rokybul Hussain, Khor Singh Engti, Ajit Singh, Basanta Das were also in the previous team of Gogoi. There are three women ministers in the new team: Ajanta Neog, Sumitra Doley Patir and Bismita Gogoi.

The issue of ministry reshuffle kept the Congress pot in Assam boiling for past more than two years with both dissidents and Gogoi-loyalists mounting pressure on the Chief Minister to drop “non-performing” ministers and induction of new faces to check rising anti-incumbency. The dissidents led by former Health and Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma leveraged the demand for a ministry reshuffle to articulate it into the demand for change of guard as numbers started growing against Gogoi after the debacle of the Congress in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. With Congress High Command solidly behind him, Gogoi was unfazed by the rebellion against him. The dissidence rose to the level of his former trusted lieutenant-turned-arch-rival Himanta Biswa Sarma leading a delegation of 28 dissident legislators to the Raj Bhawan to tender his resignation from Gogoi-cabinet. The congress party has 78 legislators in 126-member Assam Assembly. This was preceded by resignation of lone Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) minister Chandan Brahma quitting after his party decided to end the eight-year long coalition with the Congress. Gogoi cracked the whip and dropped two ministers—Dr Ardhendu Dey and Siddeque Ahmed from the ministry for accompanying Himanta Biswa Sarma to the Raj Bhawan. Although the dissidents’ numbers started dwindling the AICC held back the go-ahead to Gogoi for ministry reshuffle as it wanted to make sure that reshuffle does not make any room for any fresh dissidence ahead of 2016 assembly polls.