The change in BJP strategy is a direct fallout of its losses in last year’s assembly elections in Delhi and Bihar.
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The elections to the 126- seat Assam Assembly are going to take place in May this year, with the tenure of Tarun Gogoi-led Congress Government coming to an end on June 5.
Earlier, the BJP parliamentary board made the decision in an hour-long meeting attended among others by Modi and Shah.
“I want to thank Prime Minister and party President. The parliamentary board has decided that the party will fight the Assam polls in his leadership…BJP is going to form its government in Assam”, Nadda, accompanied by party’s national secretary Shrikant Sharma, said.
The party’s Parliamentary Board comprising its top leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah, took the decision on 28 January.
Sonowal (53) now holds independent charge of Sports and Youth Affairs Ministry. After projecting Kiran Bedi as chief ministerial candidate in Delhi, this is the second time that the BJP is putting up a face in an assembly poll.
All the board’s members, including union ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari, M Venkaiah Naidu, Ananth Kumar besides Modi, Shah and Nadda among others attended the meeting.
Sonowal started his political career as a member of the All Assam Students Union and was its president from 1992 to 1999. “I believe people of Assam will elect us to power in upcoming assembly elections”, Sonowal told reporters.
Considered one of the most popular leaders in Assam, Sonowal is a dynamic politician, also regarded as a jatiya nayak (national hero) of Assam, a title given by the AASU for his role in getting the controversial Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act scrapped.
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He quit the AGP and joined the BJP in 2011 after differences with the AGP leadership.
