Northeast Diary: Sonowal rewarded for his ‘sacrifice’

Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal is the lone BJP representative from the northeast to be included in the party’s Central Parliamentary Board, the apex organisational body. His induction is seen as a reward for the “sacrifice” he had made after the 2021 Assam assembly elections by allowing party colleague Himanta Biswa Sarma to become chief minister. Sonowal was the CM of the first-ever BJP-led government in Assam from 2016 to 2021.
Sonowal is now part of the highest decision-making body of the saffron party along with BJP top guns such as Prime Minister Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah. Additionally, his induction into the Parliamentary Board automatically facilitated his entry into the party’s Central Election Committee.
This indicates that now onward, Sonowal will be deeply involved in BJP’s central affairs, especially choosing candidates for poll-bound NE states of Meghalaya, Tripura, Nagaland while Sarma gets a free hand to run the state until 2026. The move is also significant as it sends out a message to detractors who tried to belittle Sonowal’s role and significance in the BJP.
Some political observers see Sarma as a more efficient CM than his predecessor. The former is also perceived to be a key trouble shooter and a “crisis manager”. His controversial handling of the “Maharashtra crisis” at a time when Assam was reeling under the worst flood in decades is a case in point. His name also cropped up in the recent Jharkhand fiasco.
Sonowal, on the other hand, is not cut out for such work. He comes from a different background and prefers to avoid controversies. It was Sarma himself who last year showered praise on Sonowal and described his tenure as one “unblemished without a single charge of corruption or any other allegation”.