GUWAHATI, Nov 24 - Former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi was a team leader who gave full backing to all the members of his team and never allowed any of his family members to interfere with the administration, said former Additional Chief Secretary, MGVK Bhanu.
Talking to The Assam Tribune, Bhanu, who served in the Chief Minister�s Office for eight years in different capacities like Commissioner, Principal Secretary and Additional Chief Secretary during the tenure of Gogoi as the Chief Minister, said that the former Chief Minister used to choose his team carefully. �He gave responsibilities to his team members and never interfered with their work. He also backed his team members,� he added.
Bhanu said that Gogoi was impartial and never held grudge against anyone for a long time. He revealed that Gogoi was always very particular about working within the parameters of the law and directed the officers to strictly adhere to the rules. �I worked with him for a long time and he never asked me to do any illegal thing. He encouraged all officers to act as per rules and never interfered with their work,� Bhanu added.
The former Additional Chief Secretary revealed that during his tenure as the Chief Minister, Gogoi never allowed any member of his family to interfere in the functioning of the Government. �I can claim that even his son Gaurav Gogoi, who is now a Member of Parliament, never approached me with any request during my time in the Chief Minister�s Office,� he added.
Gogoi was very quick in taking decisions regarding any official work and once he took a decision, he never changed that unless someone could prove with facts that the decision was wrong. He also never kept files pending in his table. But he was slow in taking decisions on the issue of making political appointments, said Bhanu.
When Gogoi took over as the Chief Minister, the economy of the State was in shambles but he strongly took up the issue with the Central Government to bring funds for the State. When he took over as Chief Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister and an Assam cadre IAS officer, Ashok Saikia, who was then working in the Prime Minister�s Office, helped the State a great deal. Later, when Dr Manmohan Singh took over as the Prime Minister, the task of Assam became easier as Gogoi had excellent rapport not only with Dr Singh but also with all senior leaders of the Congress, Bhanu added.
