June 30, 2021: Former Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal is expected to be ‘rewarded’ with a ministerial post soon at the Centre, according to sources close to him.
Sonowal had a meeting with PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah last week in New Delhi on the issue, sources said.
The 59-year old former Union Sports and Youth Affairs minister and 2-time MLA from Majuli had stepped aside to make way for Himanta Biswa Sarma to become the Chief Minister of Assam after BJP won a second term in the state.
Sonowal was Assam's first BJP Chief Minister after he led the saffron party to a solid victory in the 2016 Assam Assembly elections.
Sarbananda Sonowal was born on 31 October 1962 in Muluk Gaon located in the Dibrugarh district of Assam to Jibeswar Sonowal and Dineswari Sonowal.
He was the President of Assam's oldest student body, the All Assam Students Union (AASU) from 1992 to 1999. After that, he became a member of Assam’s first regional party, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP).
In 2001, he was elected as the MLA from Moran constituency of Assam. In 2004, he became a Lok Sabha member representing Dibrugarh constituency. He lost Lok Sabha election from Dibrugarh in 2009. He joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2011.
He was appointed as the president of BJP's Assam Unit in 2012, and is also a member of the party's National Executive. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections he had won from the Lakhimpur Constituency and became the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Sports and Youth Affairs Minister.
He was selected as the CM candidate of BJP for the 2016 Assam Assembly Election. On 19 May 2016, Sarbananda Sonowal won the Assembly Election from Majuli Constituency and became Chief Minister of Assam. In 2021 he was re-elected to Assam Legislative Assembly from Majuli. He resigned as Chief Minister and proposed Himanta Biswa Sarma's name as his successor.
Sonowal could be brought into Rajya Sabha to fill the slot left vacant by BJP’s Biswajit Daimary, who won the Assam Assembly elections 2021 from the Paneri constituency. A former BPF leader, Daimary is the Speaker of Assam Assembly.