Because it is Himanta Biswa Sarma’s turf. Sarma is a master-strategist, who revels in cobbling numbers with an unmatched expertise in affecting defections
Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde speaks to the media. ANI
From the very start, the Maha Vikas Aghadi or MVA government in Maharashtra was an ill-cobbled coalition of disparate and antithetical elements, arraying the “secular” Congress and NCP with the “pro-Hindutva” Shiv Sena. Things were expected to come to a head, given the constant pressure from the BJP and its combative former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Now that they have, the BJP’s plot too seems to be unfolding though its leaders have remained tight-lipped about the entire MVA crisis, only underlying their “personal relations” with Eknath Shinde, their former colleague in the BJP government in Maharashtra.
First, the rebel Shiv Sena MLAs were herded to Gujarat by their good shepherd Shinde, but today suddenly, a chartered flight took all of them to Assam, a first in Indian political history when the northeast has come to play the centre for the otherwise considered centre of political hotbed.
But Why Assam?
Simple and most obvious reason is that Assam is insulated from any Shiv Sena influence. It is the BJP all around. A safe haven, therefore, for the Shiv Sena rebels, and a way more controlled environment for the BJP.
The more nuanced, though related and rather more political, reason is Himanta Biswa Sarma, who once again is on the anvil to play the finisher for the BJP.
An astute politician, who himself crossed over from the Congress to the saffron fold, has been the chief architect of the BJP’s political game plan in the northeast, decimating Congress to smithereens, constantly chipping away its MLAs.
What is quite suggestive of Sarma now in saddle of the current crisis is the fact that Shinde was received in Guwahati by Sarma’s close confidante and BJP MLA Sushanta Borgohain.
Borgohain is one of the closest leaders to the Assam CM. Two-time Congress MLA Borgohain had quit the party, following invitations from Sarma, who had campaigned tirelessly to get Borgohain re-elected on a BJP ticket from his traditional Thowra seat in the by-elections in 2021.
“I came to receive them (Shiv Sena MLAs from Surat, Gujarat). I have not counted how many MLAs have arrived. I came here for personal relations. They have not disclosed any program,” Borgohain said.
The bye-election of the five constituencies will be held on October 30, 2021 and for the second time, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma campaigned for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led alliance candidate Sushanta Borgohain in five election campaign meetings held in various places of Thowra constituency.
Sarma, the head of North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), has fashioned many a win for the BJP in northeast. He is credited with the party’s victory in the 2016 Assam elections and led the party’s campaign across the north-eastern region in 2019 so much so that BJP and allies had the highest number of MPs from the region in the parliamentary polls.
A master strategist widely acclaimed for his political sagacity, Sarma has, apart from Assam, delivered Tripura, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh to the saffron party. Owing to his efforts, BJP is also a part of the ruling coalition of Nagaland and Meghalaya.
Who can forget his deft play, when Sarma affected a coup d’etat against the Peoples’ Party of Arunachal government in 2016 when 33 out of 43 of its MLAs changed political striped to join the BJP.
Sarma was also the one who materialised a BJP government for the first time in Manipur. A master at engineering defections, Sarma had converted BJP’s six-seat deficit (BJP had won 22; Congress 28 in 60-member House) into victory.
Most recently, when legislators, including ministers, of some BJP allies had withdrawn support to the N Biren Singh government, reducing it to a minority, it was Sarma again who had troubleshot the problem with patch-up job. Undisputedly, nobody in the Northeast is better than him when it comes to making or breaking a government.
Last, but not the least, in 2020, Sarma had saved the N Biren Singh government, when he mediated a patch up by four NPP MLAs, including Manipur Deputy CM Y Joykumar, who were brought back to the fold after they had withdrawn support to the N Biren Singh-led government.
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