In a significant development ahead of polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party declared that it will fight the upcoming elections in Assam with Sarbananda Sonowal as the party’s face in the north-eastern state. Union Sports Minister Sonowal is BJP’s chief ministerial candidate in poll bound Assam. The decision was taken at the BJP’s Parliamentary Board meeting on Thursday evening.
After the meeting, Health Minister JP Nadda in a briefing said, “In the Parliamentary board meeting, upcoming elections in five states were discussed.”
“The party’s Parliamentary Board has decided that Assam assembly elections will be contested in the leadership of Sarbananda Sonowal,” informed Nadda after the meeting.
The party’s heavy dependence on central leaders in state assembly polls has often been cited as one of the major reasons why the party suffered heavily in Bihar.
Sarbananda Sonowal thanked PM Modi, party president Amit Shah and other BJP members for projecting him party’s chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming assembly elections in Assam. He said, “I believe people will vote for BJP on grounds for good administration in the state.”
Sonowal was All Assam Students Union president and AGP leader before joining BJP in 2011. “I want to thank PM Modi and Amit Shah, I am grateful to them. I believe people of Assam will elect us to power in upcoming Assam assembly elections,” he said after being anointed the party’s face in the upcoming elections.
BJP has recalibrated its strategy for Assam elections, where it is projecting Sarbananda Sonowal as CM candidate. After BJP’s thumping win in general elections, the party has preferred to go into elections without a face except in Delhi, where Kiran Bedi was roped in very late to counter the influence of Arvind Kejriwal. The party did not announce their CM candidate for Jammu and Kashmir and Bihar elections.
