After flip-flop on the leadership issue in Delhi and Bihar Assembly elections, the BJP on Thursday named Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal its chief ministerial candidate for the Assam polls.
After flip-flop on the leadership issue in Delhi and Bihar Assembly elections, the BJP on Thursday named Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal its chief ministerial candidate for the Assam polls. The decision was taken by the BJP parliamentary board, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mr Sonowal was earlier appointed the chief election campaigner of the BJP in Assam. He would lock horns with Congress veteran and three-term Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi, who would be seeking a record fourth victory in the state.
The BJP parliamentary board made the decision in an hour-long meeting attended among others by party chief Amit Shah. General secretary J.P. Nadda told reporters, “The people of Assam know Sarba-nanda Sonowal as a national hero. The parliamentary board has decided that the party will fight the Assam polls under his leadership. The BJP is going to form its government in Assam.”
The BJP had shied away from naming its CM in the just-concluded Bihar elections where the grand alliance had seemingly made the campaign look like a showdown between Mr Modi and Mr Nitish Kumar and whipped the slogans of outsiders against Biharis. The BJP had faced flak from within its ranks for having brought too many outside leaders in Bihar.
The BJP had also brought in former police officer Kiran Bedi in a last-minute exercise to take on the Aam Admi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal in the Delhi elections and was routed in the polls.
Asked if the party will name its chief ministerial candidates for other poll-bound states as well, Mr Nadda said the issue was not deliberated upon and a decision will be taken later. Mr Sonowal (53) currently holds independent charge of sports and youth affairs ministry. He was all Assam students union president and GAP leader before joining the BJP in 2011. He headed the party’s Assam unit before he was made a minister in the Narendra Modi government. He was appointed Assam BJP chief in November.
Among the five states going to polls in a few months, Assam offers the best hope to the saffron outfit after it emerged as the single largest party there during the Look Sable elections in 2014.
