End of speculation. Himanta Biswa Sarma will be the next chief minister of Assam as the BJP-led NDA alliance won a second straight term with a comfortable majority. In the 126-member Assam assembly, the BJP has won 60 seats and its alliance partners AGP and UPPL got nine seats and six seats.

It was Sarbananda Sonowal, who led the state for five years, who proposed the name of Sarma at the legislature party meeting held in Guwahati today, and MLAs added to his voice. It is believed that the top two of the BJP – PM Narendra Modi and Home MInister Amit Shah – have awarded Sarma for the terrific win in Assam despite under-current against the BJP over Citizen Amendment Act (CAA), according to which Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh and Parsi migrants, who have entered India illegally, which means without having a valid visa, on or before December 31, 2014, from the Muslim-majority countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and have stayed in the country for five years, can apply for Indian citizenship.

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Himanta Biswa Sarma, who has handled key portfolios like finance, health, public works under Sonowal, was the second most powerful person in the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government before he decided to dump the grand old party and joined the BJP in 2015. Sarma, who is often called the ‘Chanakya of Northeast’, has consistently delivered for the party since then. Till 2015, Himanta Sarma was a key aide of Tarun Gogoi, who ruled Assam for 15 years. Sarma was believed to be a big factor in ending Tarun Gogoi’s seemingly never-ending stint in 2016.

Himanta Biswa Sarma’s parting from the Congress was not the smooth one. Sarma, who on several occasions targeted the Congress high command for ignoring the regional leaders and issues, had famously taken a tweet-dig at Rahul Gandhi when he posted a video of his dog Pidi doing a trick.

“Sir Rahul Gandhi, who knows him better than me. Still remember you busy feeding biscuits to him while we wanted to discuss urgent Assam’s issues,” he had tweeted.

Soon after he joined the BJP, Himanta Biswa Sarma was made convener of the North East Demoratic Alliance (NEDA), a BJP-led front of anti-Congress parties. After Assam, the BJP formed its first government in Manipur in 2017 despite the party winning less seats than the Congress, much of its credit goes to Sarma and his swift networking for his party.

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Sarma, who overshadowed Sarbananda Sonowal in many ways, stood by his boss and delivered as the No.2 in the government.

Himanta Sarma, who always maintained that the decision of the BJP’s top leadership would be final over the issue of chief ministership and he would follow the order like a true soldier, never shied away from speaking about his ambitions. In an interview with The Times of India, the No.2 in Assam had said: “They (PM Modi, Amit Shah) have my full record. So, for Assam, if they feel Himanta is the right man, they will give it to me. If they feel Sonowal is the right man, they will give it to him.” Himanta, however, added that if he “could gain something by lobbying in pursuit of that ambition, I would do it”.

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With this, the ‘Chanakya of Northeast’ has taken over the role of Chandragupta – from kingmaker to the king.