Just last year, when he was undergoing an open heart surgery at a Mumbai hospital, Assam CM Tarun Gogoi, 74, was said to be losing his grip on both his health and politics.
Now, Gogoi, flush with victory, is set to head a Congress-led government once again. However, he has put the ball in the court of the Congress leadership. “Such matters (chief ministership) are decided by our party high command,” he told HT at his hilltop house here. “For me, what matters right now is our win. I don’t care much about being CM again.”
But senior Congress leaders said there is little chance of the party replacing him. “You have seen the landslide mandate. You can draw your own conclusions,” state health minister Hemanta Biswa Sharma said.
Digvijay Singh, the Congress general secretary in charge of Assam, also indicated Gogoi would continue as CM.
Gogoi laid to rest rumours of a split with the Bodoland People’s Front, saying that the alliance was “intact”.