People blessed us, says Assam CM
GUWAHATI: Elated by Assam poll results, which showed that the BJP has an edge over its rivals, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Sunday exuded confidence that the saffron party-led alliance will retain power in the state.
The ruling BJP-led NDA is surged ahead of the Grand Alliance spearheaded by the Congress in Assamcomfortably. “People have blessed us. We can say for sure that the BJP will form government in Assam. We are coming back to power with our partners AGP and UPPL,” Sonowal told reporters.
Meanwhile, After winning a fifth consecutive term in Assembly polls, BJP leader and senior Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said that he did not want to talk about who would become the next
Chief Minister of the state as the decision will be made by the party’s central parliamentary board. The BJP had projected the then union minister Sarbananda
Sonowal as its chief minister before the 2016 polls, but the ruling party did not announce any name for the top post this time. “I do not want to talk about this. Our parliamentary board will decide about it,” Sarma told reporters when asked if he would be the next chief minister.
The Congress has repeatedly claimed during campaigning that the state has “two chief ministers”, in an apparent reference to rumours of Sarma and Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal acting as rival power centres. Sarma held key portfolios such as health, finance, education and PWD in the outgoing government, and is the convenor of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), the NDA’s version in the region.