Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 9: Though the BJP has retained power in Assam winning a comfortable majority in the just-concluded state Assembly elections, there will be a change of guard in the north-eastern state.
Himanta Biswa Sarma was on Sunday elected the leader of the Assam BJP legislature party at its meeting in Guwahati and will take the oath of office and secrecy as the chief minister on Monday replacing Sarbananda Sonowal.
After a week-long tussle over the leadership issue between Sonowal and Sarma, who was finance and health minister in the outgoing Sonowal cabinet, was chosen for the post by the BJP high command in Delhi.
The crisis was resolved at a meeting in the national capital convened by the BJP national president J P Nadda and attended among others by the union home minister Amit Shah and the BJP organizational secretary B L Santosh besides the two aspirants. According to the party sources, an understanding was reached that Sarma would take over as the chief minister and Sonowal would be called in Delhi to be accommodated in the union cabinet.
At the meeting of the newly-elected legislators of the party in Guwahati on Sunday morning, Sarma’s name was proposed by Sonowal and was elected unanimously, the union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who was present as the high command’s observer, announced.
After being elected the leader, Sarma staked his party’s claim to form the next ministry and was invited to take the oath at 12 noon on Monday.
Speaking about the change in guard, Sarma said, “Even the moon has spots, but the Sarbananda Sonowal-led government worked without any blemish for the last five years.” He added, “As the chief minister, Sarbananda Sonowal was our leader. He will continue to lead us in the coming times and show us the path.”
Earlier in the day, Sonowal submitted his resignation to Governor Jagdish Mukhi. “With the blessings of the people, tendered my resignation as the Chief Minister of Assam to the Hon’ble Governor Shri @jagdishmukhi ji in Raj Bhavan, Guwahati,” Sonowal tweeted.
Sarma has been arguably the most influential politician in Northeastern India as of now and the BJP’s key man and troubleshooter in the region. He is the convenor of the NEDA (North-East Democratic Alliance), a BJP led alliance of the regional parties in NE.
As the outgoing health minister of Assam, Sarma’s handling of the Covid crisis has been applauded and as the state’s finance minister he is credited for implementing some of the most important welfare schemes, which have yielded electorally.
In the 126-member Assembly, the NDA has won 75 seats, including 60 won by the BJP, nine by the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and six by the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL), while the Congress-led ‘Mahajot’, 50. Jailed activist Akhil Gogoi won the remaining seat.
Tomar said the BJP would soon hold a meeting with its alliance partners – the AGP and UPPL. The AGP legislature party, which also held a meeting on Sunday, announced that it would support the leader elected by the BJP legislature party.
For 52-year-old Sarma, it is the culmination of a career strewn with pulling off victories with political deftness, and assuming the top position after being the go-to man that kept the governments of late Tarun Gogoi and his immediate predecessor Sarbananda Sonowal going.
The replacement of Sonowal with Sarma is the recognition of the fact that the latter has not only put out many fires for the BJP in Assam — like the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) — but also his role as Health and Finance Minister in Assam, in managing the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Ph.D from Gauhati University, Sarma is a lawyer by training and was active in student politics as general secretary (for three terms) at Cotton College and with the All Assam Student’s Union. He joined the Congress in the 1990s and became an MLA from Jalukbari constituency defeating Asom Gana Parishad’s Bhrigu Phukan in 2001. Since then he has represented Jalukbari on behalf of the Congress till 2016 and from 2016 to the present on a BJP ticket. He became Minister in the Congress-led State governments and also rose to the position of the action man of the Tarun Gogoi government, and much of the credit for the 2011 Congress victory in the State is laid at his door.
Gogoi and Sarma became at odds with each other over the former’s plans to promote his son, Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi in politics, while Sarma had earmarked the position of successor for himself. The differences became too big and the Congress’ high command was either unwilling or unable to sort it out. In either case, Sarma jumped ship and joined the BJP – despite the party’s own attack on Sarma a few months before this on the issue of a CBI inquiry against him in the Louis Berger case.
Sarma, however, with his mastery over the Congress’ electoral machinery and his own considerable political acumen helped the BJP expand not just in Assam, but also in the rest of the North East as the convener of NEDA. His timely action in ending the NDA alliance with the Bodoland People’s Front and allying instead with the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) another Bodo outfit, netted the alliance eight out of the nine seats the party fought in the 126 Assembly, an important addition to the NDA kitty.
His grouse at being number two in the State remained through Sonowal’s tenure. As the Assembly polls were announced, the BJP leadership was very much aware of the fact. Uncharacteristically for the BJP, the party refused to endorse the face of the sitting Chief Minister Sonowal, declaring instead that the polls would be fought on the question of collective leadership. Sarma, who enjoys the confidence of Home Minister Amit Shah, got the endorsement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi too, despite his fondness for Sonowal.