Guwahati: BJP stepped up efforts to form the next govt in Assam on Tuesday by appointing Union minister JP Nadda as central observer for the election of the legislative party leader. Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini was named central co-observer.Sarma is likely to resign as caretaker chief minister soon as the process for forming the new govt gathers pace.In Guwahati on Tuesday morning, caretaker CM Himanta Biswa Sarma met senior RSS functionaries before the first meeting between top-level state BJP leaders and their key regional ally, the Asom Gana Parishad, at the BJP state headquarters. Sarma said BJP wants PM Narendra Modi to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new chief minister and council of ministers. Modi could not attend Sarma’s swearing-in in 2021 because of the Covid situation.Sarma went directly to RSS’s Purbottar Kshetra headquarters at Borbari in Guwahati on Tuesday morning. The meeting lasted nearly an hour. Sources said the discussion focused on some important winning candidates and their performance over the past five years and future.A political analyst close to RSS said the meeting revolved around the next term of the BJP-led govt so that no dissidence emerges. After BJP and NDA’s emphatic victory, Sarma appeared upbeat outside the RSS premises. He clicked selfies, greeted locals after coming out of the RSS office, waved at supporters and posed for photographs.Later in the day, the AGP leadership reached the state BJP headquarters to speed up talks on forming the next govt. The AGP has called a meeting of its newly elected MLAs at the party headquarters on Wednesday.BPF president Hagrama Mohilary and AGP president Atul Bora, along with working president Keshab Mahanta, met Sarma and reaffirmed their commitment to continue together in the next govt.AGP president Bora said the party would firmly stand with the BJP, though the choice of ministers would be the chief minister’s decision.Assam BJP president Dilip Saikia, after meeting the AGP leadership, said, “Our alliance is an alliance of sensitivity from the core of the heart. That’s why people trusted the NDA and in the third term of the NDA govt in Assam, we will work together for equal development of all communities,” Saikia said.“This mandate places a renewed responsibility on BJP to serve the people of Assam and with renewed commitment, we will move forward toward building a stronger, more prosperous, and self-reliant Assam,” said Mita Nath Bora, Assam BJP spokesperson.
