Ministerial duty or Rajya Sabha seat? Sarbananda Sonowal’s future plans remain unknown

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GUWAHATI: There remain unanswered questions on outgoing Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal’s political future after Himanta Biswa Sarma was unanimously elected to head the new government.

However, BJP sources indicated Sonowal would be taken back to Delhi and given a ministerial berth.

READ HERE | Himanta Biswa Sarma to take oath as Assam Chief Minister on May 10

A Rajya Sabha seat is lying vacant after Biswajit Daimary had resigned to contest the Assembly elections. The BJP sources said Sonowal would be asked to fill in the seat.

“He has been a very successful CM. The BJP central leadership sent him to Assam in 2016 on deputation to head the government after he had acquired knowledge as a Union minister. He will now be taken back to Delhi,” the BJP sources said.

Sonowal was serving as the Union Sports and Youth Resources Minister prior to becoming the Assam CM.

He started his political career in the All Assam Students’ Union and served it as its president from 1992-1999. Later, he joined the Asom Gana Parishad and was elected to the Assembly from Moran in 2001. In 2004, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Dibrugarh. In 2011, he had defected to the BJP and in 2014, he was elected to the Lok Sabha for the second time.