Sonowal sworn in as Assam CM; PM Modi, Shah in attendance

Guwahati, May 24

Sarbananda Sonowal was today sworn in as the 14th chief minister of Assam in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and other dignitaries at a huge public function at Khanapara field here.

Sonowal, who became the first BJP chief minister of the state was sworn in by Governor Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya. He took his oath in Assamese.

Himanta Biswa Sarma, the former blue-eyed boy of Gogoi who is considered to be the architect of the BJP’s stupendous show in Assam, was the second to take oath.

Along with Sonowal, 10 ministers, including from alliance partners Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodo Peoples Front (BPF), also took their oath of office at the function which was also attended by BJP president Amit Shah.

The six from BJP to take oath as ministers were Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chandra Mohan Patowary, Ranjit Dutta, Parimal Suklabaidya, Pallab Lochan Das and Naba Kumar Doley.

The two from AGP to be sworn-in were Atul Bora (Jr) and Kesab Mahanta, while the two from BPF were Pramila Rani Brahma and Rihan Daimary.

Brahma and Daimari took their oaths in Bodo and Suklabaidya in Bengali while the rest, in Assamese.

Outgoing Congress chief minister Tarun Gogoi was also present at the function.

Other dignitaries present on the occasion were senior BJP leader L K Advani, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Suresh Prabhu, Ram Vilas Paswan, Venkaiah Naidu, Nirmala Seetharaman, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Jitendra Singh, Jayant Sinha, Kiren Rijjiju and V K Singh.

BJP chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Vasundhara Raje Scindia (Rajasthan), Anandiben Patel (Gujarat), Devendra Fadnavis (Maharastra), Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana), Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh), Raghubar Das (Jharkhand) and Laxmikant Parsekar (Goa) were present. Also present at the function were chief ministers of alliance parties Prakash Singh Badal (Punjab) and Chandrababu Naidu of Telangana.

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Kaliko Pul and Sikkim Chief Minister P K Chamling were present, besides former Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda and former Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi were also present.

The swearing-in ceremony was conducted by Assam Chief Secretary VK Pipersenia. — Agencies