A variety of rumours and speculations about the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) internal squirmishes circulating and political observers’ claims of there being lobbies within Assam BJP gave all indications that the present chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal might not get the opportunity to renew his oath in 2021.
But if party sources who are in decision-making portfolios are to be believed, Sonowal remains the ultimate choice of the party leadership in Delhi to become the chief minister again in 2021.
“Sarbananda Sonowal will be the chief minister if BJP comes to power in 2021,” said a BJP leader under conditions of anonymity. The member is also a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh member and very close to the party leadership in Delhi. Talking to G Plus, the leader said that Sonowal had joined BJP in 2011 and has been working for the same extensively. “He is liked the most by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” said the leader.
It seems that the high command is getting very good reviews about the chief minister. A state cabinet minister, talking to G Plus said, “All the ministers are very happy with the chief minister as he never interferes with anyone’s work and if any work is for the development of the state, he immediately agrees to the project.” He is a non-corrupt man and his motto is to fight against corruption, said the minister adding that while the central leadership is no doubt happy with his work, all the state ministers have given good reviews about the chief minister to the national leadership.
A source in the chief minister’s office, talking to G Plus, said that there have been many path-breaking decisions that the chief minister has taken since 2016 but his stand on combating corruption was the most popular.
The chief minister, as soon as he assumed power, busted the Assam Public Service Commission (APSC) scam and with his anti-corruption and vigilance cell, and besides this, many other scams were busted.
Very recently there were allegations against the chief minister’s office of involvement in the Sub-Inspector exam paper leak case. But here too the chief minister has instructed the police not to leave any stone unturned and accordingly even a high profile police officer was also arrested in the scam.
There are also lobbies in the party who are working against the candidature of Sonowal as the chief minister for 2021, but BJP sources who are close to central leadership said that no lobby can replace Sonowal as “he is set to be the chief minister again in 2021.”
Through his tenure Sonowal was not seen talking to the media too much; now it has been observed that he has been interacting with the media and has been inaugurating many of the development projects.
