CHABUA, May 23 - The Bharatiya Janata Party Government in the State under the leadership of Sarbananda Sonowal is all set to take over charge as the next Chief Minister on May 24 at a massive public meeting at Khanapara in Guwahati.
Sarbananda Sonowal, who happens to be the youngest son of Late Jibeswar Sonowal and Late Dineswari Sonowal, was born on October 31, 1962. Youngest of six brothers and two sisters, the Chief Minister-designate originally hails from Muluk Gaon, a remote place in Dibrugarh district.
Sarbananda Sonowal completed his primary education from Muluk Gaon Primary School and then studied till Class-VI at Bindhakata ME School. He completed his further schooling at the Don Bosco School in Dibrugarh. An Arts graduate from the Dibrugarh Hanumanbox Surajmal Kanoi College (DHSK), he completed his Master�s degree in English from Dibrugarh University. He subsequently completed Law from Gauhati University, besides obtaining a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication.
Since his college days he was active as a All Assam Students� Union leader and later became the president of AASU from 1992 to 1999. He also served as the Chairman of the North East Students� Union (NESU) from 1994 to 2004.
In due course, he shifted to politics and joined the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) in 1999 and worked hard to strengthen the base of regional politics. He contested in the Lok Sabha election from Lakhimpur constituency against Ranee Narah of the INC, but was defeated. He then contested in the State Assembly election from Moran Legislative Assembly Constituency and defeated Pawan Singh Ghatowar of the INC.
Significantly, it was Sarbananda Sonowal who formally protested against the questionable IM(DT) Act and ultimately succeeded in getting it dismissed by the court. He was than conferred the sobriquet �Jatiya Nayak� by the AASU.
He was elected a Member of Parliament from 2004 to 2009.
In 2011, he left the Asom Gana Parishad and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and was elected the Assam State BJP president in 2012. He was elected MP for the second consecutive time during the 2014 Lok Sabha election by defeating Ranee Narah of the Indian National Congress. That same year, he shouldered the responsibility of Central Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs. The South Asian Games in 2016 was held successfully under his tutelage.
Sarbananda Sonowal was once again elected the Assam State BJP president in 2015. He contested in the State Assembly election from Majuli Legislative Assembly Constituency and emerged victorious by a sweeping margin of 18,923 votes against his immediate contender Rajib Lochan Pegu of the Indian National Congress, who polled 30,679 votes. In all, 49,602 valid votes were cast in favour of Sarbananda Sonowal, as per official reports.
Paying gratitude to the people of the State, Sarbananda thanked the voters for giving the BJP and its alliance partners a chance to serve the people. �I give credit for my electoral victory to the venerated Satradhikars, besides the general voters of the river island, who have been working hard to get me elected as their representative to the State Assembly.
Stressing on the importance of implementing the party�s Vision Document, Sonowal sought the help of the civil society, media and all the people concerned for manifold development of the State in the days to come.
