Sarbananda Sonowal: Political career was at stake after defeat, CM’s chair in BJP

16 May 2009 and 24 May 2016. These are the two dates which are directly related to Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
 Actually, on May 16, 2009, Sarbananda lost the election from Dibrugarh Lok Sabha seat.  At that time, he was the leader of Assam’s leading regional party AGP, namely the Asom Gana Parishad.  The AGP won only one of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam in that election.
 After the year 2001, the political land of the regional party was slipping rapidly in the state.  For Sarbananda, that defeat was linked to deciding the political future ahead of him.  At that time, news of Sarbananda’s differences with the party leadership had started making headlines in the media.
 The election performance of the AGP did not make it seem that this regional party would ever be able to come into governance again.  Sarbananda was also getting isolated in the party and he did not have any major responsibility.
 This was the period when the then Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi in the state’s politics and Himanta Biswa Sarma, who were number two in his Congress government, spoke.
At that time, many senior journalists covering the politics of Assam were heard saying that Sarbananda’s political career in the regional party is now difficult to move forward.
 Sarbananda Sonowal campaigning for BJP candidate Dr. Manas Das from North Karimganj seat

 Journalists had their own arguments because many big leaders of that party, who had ruled the state twice since 1985, were becoming anonymous in the politics here.  Congress rule in the state for 15 consecutive years was also a big reason for this.
 But the fiery Sarbananda, who started his political career with All Assam Students Union, Asoo, was planning something else.
 Sarbananda quit the party in January 2011, resigning from all executive positions within the AGP, and a few days later on February 8, he joined the BJP in the presence of the then BJP National President Nitin Gadkari and several senior leaders.
 This day proved to be the turning point of his political life and on 24 May 2016, he became the first Chief Minister of the BJP government in Assam for the first time.