Himanta Sarma sworn in for 2nd term as Assam Chief Minister after record mandate
Himanta Sarma sworn in for 2nd term as Assam Chief Minister after record mandate
M.U.H
12/05/202614
Himanta Biswa Sarma, the BJP’s strongman in the Northeast, took oath on Tuesday as Assam Chief Minister for a second consecutive term after the party stormed back to power with a record mandate, paving the way for a third straight term for the BJP-led NDA government in the state.
Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya administered the oath of office and secrecy to Sarma at a high-profile event attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, among other party bigwigs.
Alongside Sarma, four ministers -- senior BJP leaders Rameswar Teli and Ajanta Neog, AGP president Atul Bora and BPF MLA Charan Boro -- also took oath on Tuesday.
Sarma, who first became Chief Minister in 2021 after succeeding Sarbananda Sonowal, created political history by becoming the first non-Congress leader in Assam to serve two consecutive terms as Chief Minister. His return to office also marked the BJP-led NDA’s third consecutive term in Assam since the alliance first formed the government in 2016.
The BJP-led NDA registered a landslide victory in the recently concluded Assam Assembly elections, winning 102 seats in the 126-member Assembly. The BJP alone secured 82 seats, crossing the majority mark on its own for the first time in Assam. Its allies AGP and BPF won 10 seats each.
The massive mandate further consolidated Sarma’s position as the BJP’s tallest leader in the Northeast and underlined the party’s continued dominance in the region. Since taking over as Chief Minister in 2021, Sarma has emerged as one of the BJP’s most influential regional leaders and has played a central role in the party’s expansion across Northeastern states.
The Chief Minister Sarma is expected to announce the new government’s priorities for the first 100 days, with infrastructure, investment, welfare schemes, land reforms and indigenous rights likely to remain key focus areas.
While the BJP turned the oath event into a show of strength, the opposition Congress stayed away from the swearing-in ceremony. Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi earlier alleged that the constitutional event had been converted into a “political spectacle”.
“We cannot support the conversion of a constitutional event into an expensive political rally,” Gogoi said.
The Congress won 19 seats in the 126-member Assam Assembly in the recently-held election.
