BJP crowns Himanta Biswa Sarma as Assam CM

GUWAHATI: NDA’s kingmaker in the northeast and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma will be sworn in as Assam’s 15th chief minister on Monday.
The 52-year-old former Supreme Court advocate will be the state’s first chief minister from the Brahmin community. He will also be the first CM from lower Assam in over two decades after the late Bhumidhar Barman of Congress held the post for a brief period in 1996 following Hiteswar Saikia’s death.
The BJP legislature party on Sunday unanimously elected him as the leader of the party in the House in the presence of agriculture minister and BJP’s central observer Narendra Singh Tomar, which not only ended a six-day period of speculation over the CM’s face since the declaration of election results on May 2, but also Sarma’s long wait to reach the top post.
Tomar announced Sarma’s name after outgoing chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal proposed his name at the legislature party meeting, which was seconded by BJP state president Ranjeet Kumar Dass. BJP’s partners in the NDA — Asom Gana Parishad and United People’s Party Liberal — later announced their support to Sarma.
In his address to the newly elected members of the NDA after he was elected as the leader of the House, Sarma pledged that his government would follow the path of “value-based politics” of Sonowal.
“The first five years of the NDA government in Assam under the leadership of chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal took the state to new heights and restored peace and development in the state permanently. Unlike the moon, Sonowal government’s had no scars. He was our leader and will remain our leader and our margdarshak. We pledge to follow his value-based politics,” Sarma said.
He added, “Personally, I am grateful to Sarbananda Sonowal for having so much trust in me when he gave me the responsibilities of handling so many crucial departments.”
Sarma made an unsuccessful attempt to get the CM’s post in 2015 when he was with Congress. He had challenged former CM late Tarun Gogoi’s leadership with support from party MLAs, but his move was checkmated by Sonia Gandhi. Sarma, along with 10 of his most loyal MLAs in Congress, quit the party and joined BJP.
The BJP parliamentary board on Saturday decided on Sarma as Sonowal’s successor and Sunday’s legislature party meeting was only a formality. Earlier in the day, before going to the legislature party meeting, Sonowal submitted his resignation to governor Professor Jagdish Mukhi.
Later in the day, Sarma drove to the Raj Bhawan to stake his claim to form the government. Sarma and a mini-cabinet is likely to be sworn-in on Monday noon, keeping in view the Covid-19 situation in the state.
The election results were declared on May 2 but it started the debate over who will be the CM because unlike 2016, BJP did not name a chief ministerial candidate in this election. In 2016, PM Narendra Modi himself had announced Sonowal’s name as the CM candidate.
The process of formation of the new government in the state and naming the chief minister was kept on hold by BJP central leadership because of post-poll violence in Bengal. Nadda had rushed to West Bengal, and without his presence, the parliamentary board, which would have taken the decision on the chief minister, could not be convened.