BJP picks Himanta for Assam CM post
GUWAHATI: Himanta Biswa Sarma was named the chief minister of Assam on Sunday and he will replace incumbent Sarbananda Sonowal to the top post.
Sarma’s name as BJP’s legislature party leader was announced by Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar who was appointed a central observer for the meeting along with party’s national general secretary Arun Singh.
Following the announcement, Sarma said that the state’s new cabinet will take oath at 12 noon on Monday.
Sarma’s name was formally confirmed at the first legislature party meeting of the 60 newly elected MLAs of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), held at the state assembly, after days of lobbying in Guwahati and official meetings in Delhi following the announcement of assembly election results on May 2.
“I asked other MLAs if they had any other names in mind. No other name was suggested. Since the name of Sarma, a senior minister in our state government was the only one that was proposed, he is unanimously chosen as the legislature party leader,” Tomar said.
Ahead of the meeting on Sunday, Sonowal submitted his resignation to governor Jagdish Mukhi.
On Saturday, the two main claimants for the post, Sonowal and Sarma were summoned by the party leadership to Delhi where they held several rounds of meetings with BJP president JP Nadda and other senior leaders. Both leaders returned to Guwahati late on Saturday night.
BJP office bearers, familiar with the matter, said the leadership decided in Sarma’s favour after the discussions. Sonowal, who was part of the first Narendra Modi government at Centre, is likely to be accommodated in the Union cabinet again at a later date, the people said.
Sunday’s development marks a landmark in Sarma’s sharp rise within BJP, a party which he joined in 2015 after parting ways with then Congress chief minister Tarun Gogoi, in whose cabinet he was a minister for three consecutive terms since 2001.
Sarma played a crucial role in BJP forming its first government in Assam in 2016 and was allotted finance, health, education and PWD portfolios in the Sonowal cabinet.
As convenor of North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), the conglomeration of anti-Con
gress regional parties in northeast, Sarma was also responsible for BJP forming governments in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura and becoming part of the ruling coalition in Nagaland and Meghalaya in the past few years.
The delay in announcement of a CM’s name and formation of the next government despite a clear mandate at a time when the state is witnessing a rapid rise in new Covid-19 cases had led to criticism of the BJP by opposition parties and experts.
Assam assembly has a total of 126 seats. While the BJP won 60, its allies Asom Gana Parishad and UPPL won 9 and 6 seats respectively, taking the alliance’s total to 75 seats.
The opposition Congress and the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) on Sunday conveyed their greetings to Sarma and hoped that it will become one of the most developed states of the country under his tenure.
“Many congratulations to @himantabiswa on being elected as the next Chief Minister of Assam. Our only vision must be to work in tandem to make Assam one of the most developed states of India. Best wishes!” Assam Congress chief Ripun Bora tweeted.
AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal also congratulated the convenor of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), the NDA’s version in the region, on being elected as the BJP’s Legislative Party leader. “I hope Dr. Sharma with his experience and dedication will pull out Assam from the critical juncture it is at. I wish him a successful tenure,” the Lok Sabha MP said in a Twitter post.