Early career (1978–1982) Gogoi was elected to
Assam Legislative Assembly in
1978 as a
Janata Party candidate in
Dibrugarh. He received 22003 votes, 57.84% of the total vote and defeated his nearest opponent by 11930 votes. He became the Minister for Finance, Judicial, Legislative (Law) in the
Golap Borbora cabinet. On 14 July 1979,
Borbora reconstituted his ministry. The re-allocation of portfolios saw the exit of two senior cabinet members, one being Gogoi. After the
Borbora ministry collapsed, Gogoi went over to
Jogendra Nath Hazarika's group and returned as finance minister in
Jogendra Nath Hazarika's cabinet. With the 1980
Indira Gandhi wave, he joined the
Indian National Congress and became Minister of Finance, Power, Steel and Mines and Parliamentary Affairs in the
Anwara Taimur cabinet. He served until 1981.
Chief Ministership (1982) President N Sanjiva Reddy issued a proclamation revoking
President's rule imposed on Assam on 30 June 1981, and extending for another term of six months. The
President's rule was imposed when the government of
Anwara Taimur failed to get the Assam appropriation bill passed by the assembly. Gogoi became one of the
Chief Ministers of Assam on 13 January 1982, ending 197 days of
President's rule in
Assam. Just before his selection, 4 supporters of
Anwara Taimur resigned from the party. However, Taimur proposed Gogoi for the leadership, as did future
Chief Minister Hiteswar Saika. Earlier, the Taimur camp had encouraged
Saikia to contest Gogoi's claim but an opinion poll before the final selection showed there were only 8 backers of
Saikia among the 35 partymen assembled while 24 supported Gogoi and 3 remained neutral. On 17 March 1982 a
Motion of No Confidence was moved against the 65-day-old
ministry of Gogoi. The motion was moved against Gogoi jointly by
Sarat Chandra Singha,
Golap Borbora, Hemen Das,
Promode Gogoi, Zainal Abedin, Premadhar Bora and Romesh Mohan Kouli. The
speaker admitted the motion and fixed the discussion for 18 March 1982. However, the
speaker adjourned the house
sine die after he received a message stating that Gogoi tendered in his resignation to the
Governor. On 19 March, the
President Sanjiva Reddy then issued a proclamation which dissolved the
legislative assembly and brought the state under
President's rule.
Post-Chief Ministership (1982–1996) In the
1983 Assam Legislative Assembly election, he was reelected, polling 4905 votes as the
Congress candidate in
Dibrugarh. and later PWD minister in the
Hiteswar Saikia cabinet from 1983 to 1985. In the
1985 Assam Legislative Assembly election, Gogoi received 24100 votes, 44.87% of the total vote and he was reelected in
Dibrugarh, defeating his nearest opponent by 4055 votes. On 27 November 1991, he was removed from the Cabinet for alleged anti-party activities. He was expelled from the Indian National Congress on 3 March 1995 for alleged anti-party activities for a period of 6 years. He remained MLA for
Dibrugarh until 1996, where he did not get the congress nomination. He instead was the
All India Indira Congress (tiwari) candidate but came 4th in the election, losing his seat to
Kalyan Kumar Gogoi. == Personal life ==