Himanta may pip Sonowal as next CM of Assam

New Delhi, May 09: The newly elected BJP MLAs in Assam will meet later today to select a new Chief Minister. There is a likelihood of Himanta Biswa Sarma pipping Sarbananda Sonowal to the post.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday met with BJP chief J P Nadda and Union Home Minister, Amit Shah to discuss about the leadership issue of the next government, five days after the saffron party-led alliance emerged victorious in the assembly elections, sources said.

Sonowal, who belongs to Assam's indigenous Sonowal-Kachari tribals, and Sarma, the convenor of the North East Democratic Alliance, are expected to have a meeting with BJP president J P Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP general B L Santhosh and others on Saturday, they said.

However, it is immediately not known whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be present in the meeting, they added.

"Sonowal and Sarma will leave for New Delhi on Saturday for discussions on the formation of the next government," Assam BJP spokesperson Rupam Goswami told PTI.

The meeting with Nadda is scheduled at 10:30 a.m., party sources said.

The BJP is also yet to hold a meeting of its parliamentary board, which normally decides key issues like who will be the chief minister of a state.

The BJP had not announced a chief ministerial candidate before the March-April polls in Assam.

In the 2016 elections, the BJP had projected Sonowal as its chief minister and won the election, forming the first saffron party government in the Northeast.

The BJP has been maintaining that it would decide who would be the chief minister of Assam after the elections.

In the results announced for the 126-member Assam assembly last Sunday, the BJP won 60 seats and its alliance partners AGP 9 and UPPL six seats.

Himanta, Sonowal meet Shah, Nadda, discuss next CM for Assam