Assam BJP MLAs to pick state's next chief minister in presence of central observers on Sunday

The BJP Legislature Party in Assam will meet in Guwahati on Sunday to elect the next chief minister of the state, a week after the ruling alliance won the Assembly elections with a clear majority, a party spokesman said.

The meeting is scheduled to begin from 11 am and Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar and party General Secretary Arun Singh will be present as central observers. Baijayant Panda, BJP's Assam in-charge will also be present on the occasion.

Party's state unit president Ranjeet Kumar Dass visited the legislative assembly this evening to review arrangements for the legislature party meeting. He, however, refused to divulge the details of the scheduled meeting.

The party's central leadership had summoned chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, both contenders for the top post, to New Delhi on Saturday for discussions on the formation of the next government in the state.

A series of meetings, lasting for more than four hours, were held with BJP President J P Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah with the duo, following which Sarma said that the BJP's legislature party is likely to meet on Sunday and all questions related to the next government will be answered there.

Both Sonowal and Sarma had gone together to Delhi this morning by a chartered flight and returned tonight along with the central observers. The BJP had not announced the name of the chief minister before the polls and speculations are rife for the last one week on who would be the next chief minister of the state.
Sonowal was projected as the chief ministerial candidate during the 2016 polls and as the then state BJP President had led the party to victory, forming the first saffron party government in the North East.

Party sources said the name of the chief minister was expected to be proposed by either of the contenders with the party president likely to second it. The ruling BJP alliance is the first non-Congress government in the state to win the elections for the second consecutive term.

Of the 126 assembly seats in Assam, the ruling alliance has secured 75 seats with BJP winning 60 while its alliance partners AGP got nine seats and UPPL six.