( Adding para 10)

New Delhi, May 12 (UNI) It will be the Laughing Buddha once again at the Writers Building in Kolkata and the grand old man of Dravidian politics at the Chief Minister's Office in Chennai.

The MLAs of victorious Congress in Assam will meet in Guwahati tomorrow under the supervision of party observers Digvijay Singh and Chandan Bagchi where Mr Tarun Gogoi is expected to be elected unnanimously.

The Congress, leading the DPA and the single largest party with ten seats, is certain to stake claim to form the government in Pondicherry.

In Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy submitted his resignation to State Governor R L Bhatia following the defeat of the Congress-led United Democratic Front(UDF) in the assembly elections.

The ruling coalition partners in West Bengal were unanimous that Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was the natural choice as Chief Minister of its seventh successive government and decided to finalise the names of ministers by May 14.

A front meeting held a day after the election results were out, unanimously accepted the proposal for retaining Mr.Bhattacharjee as the Chief Minister for another term.

Front chairman Biman Basu said the names of those to be inducted in the ministry would be decided in separate bilateral meetings among the Front partners on Sunday. The process would be followed by the oath taking of the newly elected legislators early next week after the Election Commission issues a notification in this regard.

He said following the oath taking ceremony, all the Left MLAs would be called in a meeting to decide the leader of the legislature party. Mr Basu said the Left Front had secured 50.24 per cent vote in the assembly election which was third highest since the coalition government was formed in 1977.

The new seventh Left Front Ministry in West Bengal will take oath of office and secrecy on May 18, Chief Secretary Amit Kiran Deb said.

A 31-member Ministry, headed by DMK President and Chief Minister-designate M Karunanidhi, will assume office in Tamil Nadu tomorrow.

State Governor Surjit Singh Barnala invited Mr Karunanidhi to form the Ministry at the earliest, when the latter called on him at Raj Bhavan and staked his claim to form government.

More UNI Team RP BD1901