The all-pervading year-end holiday mood - face-offs with students' bodies too - dampened an "upbeat" Congress' celebration of its 125th foundation day across the Northeast.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Dorjee Khandu waxed eloquent on the party's commitment to rural uplift and boost for cottage industries. They presided over minimalist public functions at the Rajib Bhavans in Guwahati and Itanagar respectively.
"Austerity drive was also a reason for keeping it (celebration) a low-key affair," Assam Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Bichitra Choudhury told Hindustan Times.
The Christmas-New Year season had a similar impact on the party's celebration in Mizoram, where Lal Thanhawla led it to a landslide victory in December last year. The party has 43 of 40 seats in the Mizoram House.
In Meghalaya and Manipur, the party function was even more low-key. If under-pressure Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh had the four-month closure of schools by irate students' organizations at the back of his mind, Meghalaya's DD Lapang was wary of facing protests from tribal organizations opposing the go-ahead for a controversial hydropower project.
These organizations had for most part of 2009 troubled Lapang for green-signaling the uranium mining project in Meghalaya's West Khasi Hills district.
Despite these "aberrations", the Congress exuded confidence gained by a series of victories across the Northeast. The party's comfortable victory - it won 42 of 60 Assembly seats - in Arunachal Pradesh followed by-election wins in Meghalaya and Assam and preceded another by-poll victory in Manipur.
{{/usCountry}}Despite these "aberrations", the Congress exuded confidence gained by a series of victories across the Northeast. The party's comfortable victory - it won 42 of 60 Assembly seats - in Arunachal Pradesh followed by-election wins in Meghalaya and Assam and preceded another by-poll victory in Manipur.
{{/usCountry}}Except for Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh, the Congress leads a coalition government in three of the remaining six states in the Northeast. With 56 legislators in the 126-member Assam Assembly, it shares power with the regional Bodoland Peoples' Front.
In Meghalaya, the Congress has 27 MLAs in the 60-member House. It shares power with the United Democratic Party and other regional allies. The party has the CPI as its allies in Manipur, although it sits pretty with 31 legislators in the 60-member House.