Guwahati, May 9: Chief Minister designate Himanta Biswa Sarma called on Governor Jagdish Mukhi at Raj Bhawan on Sunday and staked claim to form the government in Assam.
The governor will administer him the oath of office on Monday at 12 noon.
My heartiest congratulations to my elder brother @himantabiswa ji on being unanimously elected as legislative party leader of BJP in Assam and Chief Minister of Assam. My best wishes and prayers for all his future endeavours.
— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) May 9, 2021
Sarma will succeed Sarbananda Sonowal as the 15th Chief Minister of Assam.
The Legislature Party meeting today ended when Sonowal proposed his name after Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave his approval for Sarma’s elevation to the top post.
Sonowal had submitted his resignation to the Governor earlier this afternoon.
The BJP won a second straight term in the recently concluded assembly polls in the state. The party won 60 seats in the 126-member Assam assembly while its alliance partners AGP got nine seats and UPPL six seats.
In the 2016 Assembly polls, the BJP had projected Sonowal as its chief ministerial candidate and won, forming its first government in the North East.
Sarma had quit the Congress government of Tarun Gogoi in 2015 just ahead of 2016 assembly election.
The next year, the BJP won a spectacular victory in assembly elections in Assam, sweeping aside the Tarun Gogoi government which ruled the state for three successive terms.
At Raj Bhavan, Sarma was accompanied by outgoing Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, submitted the list of elected legislators owing allegiance to the NDA. Mukhi accepted his claim and invited him to form government.
