Sarbananda Sonowal takes oath as #Assam Chief Minister

On May 24, 2016

Sarbananda Sonowal took oath on Tuesday evening as the Chief Minister of Assam. He has become the first BJP leader to hold the post. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Chief Ministers of five other states, Union ministers and senior BJP leaders were present at the ceremony.

Sonowal, who resigned as Union Minister of State for Sports after his party’s win in the recent Assembly elections in Assam, was administered the oath by Assam Governor PB Acharya.

Apart from PM Modi, the searing-in ceremony was attended by Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal, Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu, Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje, Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh and Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Outgoing Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi of the Congress also attended the swearing-in ceremony after receiving an invite from Sonowal.

The BJP-led alliance, that included the Bodoland Peoples Front and the Asom Gana Parishad, swept the election, winning 86 of the 126 seats. The two BJP allies have also found representation in the Sonowal cabinet.

Sonowal began his political career with the All Assam Students Union before moving to Asom Gana Parishad and later to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2011. He was made president of the Assam unit of the BJP in 2012. He was declared BJP’s chief ministerial candidate in January 2016.

Also present were senior BJP leader LK Advani and party president Amit Shah; and Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, Venkaiah Naidu, Anant Kumar, Suresh Prabhu and Ram Vilas Paswan.

Sarbananda Sonowal takes oath as #Assam Chief Minister