BJP is holding meeting of office bearers and winning and losing candidates of Assaam assembly elections in Guwahati today. The meeting will be attended by party Chief Ministerial candidate Sarbananda Sonowal, Himanta Biswa Sharma and Ram Madhav, who was election in charge for the state. Sarbananda Sonowal and Himanta Biswa Sharma are later scheduled to proceed to Delhi to meet party president Amit Shah.
BJP allies, Asom Gana Parishad and Bodoland People’s Front have said they will support Sonowal as Chief Minister. BPF MP Biswajit Daimary said the question of supporting or opposing Sonowal does not arise as the decision lies with BJP. The party will hold its legislature meeting tomorrow. Asom Gana Parishad is also likely to hold meeting of newly elected MLAs tomorrow.
Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal is set to become the first BJP chief minister of Assam. From being the president of All Assam Student’s Union, Mr Sonowal rose to popularity when Supreme Court scrapped Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act, acting on his petition. He joined BJP in 2011 after quitting Ason Gana Parishad. The very next year, Sonowal was named president of BJP’s state unit.
He led the party to its best ever performance in Assam during 2014 Lok Sabha elections, when the party won seven seats. Mr Sonowal has promised to keep the identity of indigenous people intact, and usher in development by taking all sections of society together.