Sarbananda Sonowal Back In PM Modi's Cabinet For A Second Time
NDTV
Sarbananda Sonowal had joined the BJP in 2011, saying he felt that Assam's core problems like the illegal immigrant issue, could be solved only by intervention at a national level.
Sarbananda Sonowal, among the Narendra Modi government's first two minsters from the northeast, is back in the Union ministry as the in-charge of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and the Ministry of Ayush after a five-year stint in Assam. His removal, party sources have indicated, is meant to give a clear field to Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was rewarded with the top job after helping deliver the northeast to the BJP. For the BJP, it was a tough choice between the good image Mr Sonowal had cultivated in the state and the indispensable strategizing and trouble-shooting skills of Mr Sarma. As the first BJP Chief Minister of Assam, much of it a Congress bastion, Mr Sonowal, 59, had steered the state through the Centre's controversial moves including the National Registry of Citizens that had upset not only the people but the leaders of his party. Ahead of the state election this year, he indicated that none of it would matter, as his government had has "earned the trust of people" with its development-centric policies and by ensuring peace in the state.More Related News