Cabinet berths elude them despite victories

GUWAHATI: For every politician, who toils hard to win elections, a ministerial berth is the ultimate reward. But for a group of Congress MLAs, who has been winning consecutive elections, a berth in the cabinet continues to be a distant dream.
The members of this group of six Congress MLAs, who will have to wait for another election as their names do not figure in chief minister Tarun Gogoi's list of 18 ministers for his new ministry, are Rajendra Prasad Singh (Tinsukia), Raju Sahu (Chabua), Jibontara Ghatowar (Moran), Sarat Saikia (Mahmara), Membor Gogoi (Teok) and Jonjonali Baruah (Morigaon).All of them have won the last two elections as well as the recently-concluded one, but have never become a minister. There's also another category of Congress MLAs, who have been winning elections and have found places in the cabinet. However, this time, they have run out of luck. This group includes senior Congress leader Bhumidhar Barman and Gautam Bora. Both have remained ministers in the last government and have been winning elections for long. But this time, they are not in the new cabinet. Similar is the fate of former ministers like Anjan Dutta, Sarat Borkotoky, Rameshwar Dhanoar and Robin Bordoloi.