Himanta Biswa Sarma has been at the centre of Assam’s politics for over two decades, but the defining turn in his career came in 2015. He moved from the Congress to the Bharatiya Janata Party, a switch that changed both his trajectory and the saffron party’s fortunes in the Northeast.
After years in the Congress, where he held key portfolios and built a strong base, Sarma walked out following differences with then Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and Congress central leadership. Within months of joining the BJP, he emerged as a central strategist, helping the party expand rapidly across the region.
His political base, however, has remained unchanged. Sarma’s strength has always been his ability to combine organisation with ground politics. He has represented Jalukbari since 2001, winning every election since then, first on a Congress ticket and later with the BJP. Over the years, he handled major departments like health, education and finance, building a reputation for administrative control.
In 2021, he became Assam’s Chief Minister, succeeding Sarbananda Sonowal. Since then, his focus has been on infrastructure, healthcare and governance delivery, with a working style that is direct and visible on the ground.
Beyond Assam, Sarma’s role is wider. He is seen as the BJP’s main political operator in the Northeast.
As he heads into the 2026 Assembly elections, Sarma is not just leading a government — he is shaping the BJP’s political footprint across the region.
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With just a few days left for the assembly elections, the political battle in Assam has turned personal. The Congress has targeted Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, alleging his wife, Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, holds multiple foreign passports and undisclosed offshore assets worth Rs 52,000 crore.
In this special ground report from Assam, India Today explores the shifting political landscape and who is winning the narrative battle ahead of the assembly elections.
In a special podcast on UnPolitics with India Today's Preeti Choudhry, Assam Congress President and party Member of Parliament from Jorhat, Gaurav Gogoi, discussed the upcoming state elections and the opposition's six-party alliance. In a startling development, he levelled serious allegations against Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and some of the top BJP leaders in the state, saying they have alleged links with those arrested in the Zubeen Garg murder case. He said that the social media are full of Sarma's pictures with them.
The West Asia war has intensified as Israel's Defense Minister, Israel Katz, announced the elimination of Iran's Intelligence Minister, Esmail Khatib, in an airstrike.
Two-time Lok Sabha member and former Congress leader Pradyut Bordoloi defended his decision to join the BJP and said he was feeling suffocated and isolated in Congress.
In a significant political development weeks before the Assam Assembly elections, sitting Nagaon Lok Sabha MP Pradyut Bordoloi has resigned from the Congress party and joined the BJP. Bordoloi, a two-time MP and former state minister, cited feeling humiliated and sidelined within the party as reasons for his departure. He stated his resignation was due to multiple issues, not just a single ticket allocation dispute concerning the Laharighat constituency. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma welcomed Bordoloi into the BJP. This event follows other high-profile defections from the Assam Congress, including former state party chief Bhupen Kumar Bora. The departure poses a challenge for the state Congress, led by Gaurav Gogoi, ahead of the single-phase polls scheduled for April 9.
Senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Pradyut Bordoloi has resigned from the party, citing internal mistreatment and lack of support from the leadership, marking a significant setback for Congress ahead of the Assam Assembly elections.
