GUWAHATI: BJP National President J P Nadda and Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh were among a host of prominent leaders, who were present during the much publicised Oath ceremony of Himanta Biswa Sarma as the new Chief Minister of Assam. Former Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal was also present on the occasion. Besides Nadda and Dr Jitendra Singh, other national leaders who had specially travelled to Guwahati for the Oath Ceremony included BJP National General Secretary (Organisation) B L Santosh, Chief Minister of Manipur N. Biren Singh, Chief Minister of Meghalaya Conrad Sangma, Chief Minister of Tripura Biplab Kumar Deb and Chief Minister of Nagaland Neiphiu Rio. Along with Himanta Biswa Sarma, a total number of 14 Ministers were sworn-in by Governor Prof Jagdish Mukhi. All the Ministers took the oath in the local Assamese language except one who took the oath in English language. Speaking to the media after the ceremony, Dr Jitendra Singh said, today’s ceremony marked the glorious entry of the BJP-led government in the State into its second term. The occasion deserves special celebration also because of the fact that whenever a political party is in power for one term, it faces a certain amount of anti-incumbency factor, smaller or greater. However, this is one of the rare instances, when BJP entered the election fray with pro-incumbency and came back to power with full mandate, he added. Complementing former Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal for having led a government which worked in perfect coordination with the Central government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which resulted in optimum implementation of a series of central schemes and welfare programmes. He expressed confidence that under Himanta Biswa Sarma also, the same trend will continue and Assam will emerge as a model of development in India’s growth journey led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. When asked about the priorities of the new government, Dr Jitendra Singh said, it is obviously the management of COVID, but he hastened to add that in comparison to many other States of the country, Assam had fared better in its management and control of COVID pandemic. He said, there has never been any complaints of oxygen unavailability or any other constraint during the entire phase of pandemic and for this also, the credit goes to the proactive approach of the administration.
