Guwahati: Chief minister-designate Himanta Biswa Sarma is set to join the BJP's elite club of leaders who have held the chief minister's post for consecutive terms — a circle led by none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi — when he takes oath for his second successive term as Assam's chief minister on Tuesday.
Modi, who served four consecutive terms as Gujarat chief minister between 2001 and 2014 before moving to Delhi, tops the BJP's list of multi-term leaders. On Tuesday, he will stand witness as Sarma writes his own chapter in that history.
The prime minister arrived in Guwahati late on Monday night to attend the swearing-in ceremony, where governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya will administer the oath to Sarma and four cabinet ministers likely — including one each from BJP's allies AGP and BPF — at 10:40 am at Khanapara's Veterinary College Field in Guwahati.
Behind Modi are Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who held three consecutive terms in Madhya Pradesh from 2005 to 2018, and Raman Singh, who led Chhattisgarh for the same duration from 2003 to 2018. Yogi Adityanath is currently serving his second consecutive term in Uttar Pradesh since 2017, and Pema Khandu in Arunachal Pradesh since 2019 and again in 2024. N Biren Singh, after being sworn in for two successive terms in 2017 and 2022, stepped down last year. With his return to office, Sarma becomes the fifth BJP leader to achieve this milestone, having first taken charge in 2021.
The swearing-in ceremony at Khanapara is expected to be a grand show of strength. Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP president Nitin Nabin arrived late on Monday evening, while defence minister Rajnath Singh and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman are expected on Tuesday morning.
As many as 43 NDA chief ministers and deputy chief ministers have been invited to witness the ceremony, most of whom have already reached Guwahati. The gathering will also feature top industrialists, including Jeet Adani, director at Adani Airport Holdings Ltd; Sajjan Jindal, managing director of JSW Group; foreign ambassadors; Vaishnavite monastery heads; and BJP booth presidents — the grassroots backbone of the party's sweeping victory.
The BJP secured 82 seats in the 126-member legislative assembly, marking its first single-party majority in Assam. With allies AGP and BPF winning 10 seats each, the NDA's tally rose to 102, ensuring a comfortable majority. This marks the alliance's third consecutive tenure in Assam since 2016, consolidating BJP's dominance in the region.
Sarma's leadership has been credited with strengthening the BJP's base in the northeast, and his second term is being seen as a significant political moment. He was unanimously elected leader of the BJP-led NDA legislature party on Sunday, after which he, along with alliance leaders, met the governor at Lok Bhavan and formally staked claim to form the government. Union minister JP Nadda and Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini, appointed as BJP's central observer and co-observer, oversaw Sarma's election as the NDA's legislative leader.
