BJP Parliamentary board to clear Assam leadership row
Some newly-elected MLAs advocate Himanta Biswa Sarma as new CM
Bogged down by the media debate over the leadership issue, the Assam BJP on Monday pushed the ball into the court of the parliamentary board of the party and advised the newly-elected legislators through their leaders to maintain restraint on the issue by avoiding giving comments in the media.
The problem started as some newly-elected legislators started expressing their views openly before some television channels and advocated the name of senior minister Himanta Biswa Sarma as the new chief minister.
However, Assam BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass took the lead and announced: “That decision will be taken by the parliamentary board. The party is sending an observer. He will talk to all stakeholders and a decision will be taken based on his report.”
In between, more than a dozen newly-elected legislators were seen visiting Sarma at his official residence in Dispur. However, most of them were tightlipped. Newly-elected legislator Jayanta Malla Baruah told reporters that he came to felicitate Sarma.
“This is not new, I have been a regular visitor to Sarma. As far as leadership issues are concerned, party leaders and the parliamentary board of the party will take a call,” said Baruah, a staunch supporter of Sarma since his Congress days.
With the party asking legislators to be restrained, some BJP MLAs said: “Sarma deserves to be the next CM as he has not only performed well as minister but also leading the party to victory in all the entire northeastern states since 2016. He has also proved himself as an efficient crisis manager for the governments and the party as well in the Northeast.”
Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday invited the newly-elected legislators of the party and alliance partners at his official residence. Though it was not known if all legislators could attend the meeting, party sources said most legislators who were in Guwahati attended the meeting.
The remarks of the new legislators in the media asking for a change in the leadership in Assam has alerted the central party leaders in New Delhi too.
Having retained power in Assam, the BJP will now need to take a call on whether to keep Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal at the helm or elevate Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam’s health and finance minister, who has steadily gained strength within the party since defecting from the Congress in the run-up to the 2016 Lok Sabha elections.
There has been speculation all through the campaign season of Sonowal possibly getting a role in the Union government and Sarma taking his place as CM, particularly since the BJP did not name a CM candidate before the elections.
BJP vice-president and Assam in-charge Jay Panda, who met Sonowal and Sarma separately at their residences on Monday, said: “Any decision that will be taken will be after a call is taken at the parliamentary board.”
It is significant that the leader of the United Peoples Party Liberal, Pramod Boro, has already said: “Selecting the chief minister is an internal BJP matter but we as an alliance partner would like to request them to select a dynamic leader to lead the party in Assam.”