Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma visited Majuli -- his first trip outside Guwahati after assuming charge on Monday.

He promised the people of the Upper Assam constituency to “carry forward” all development work initiated by his predecessor Sarbananda Sonowal.

The visit to take stock of the Covid situation in Majuli district assumes significance because the constituency is represented by Sonowal whom Sarma replaced after a “silent” power tussle where the BJP leadership favoured the latter though the BJP-lead alliance had won a comprehensive majority in the recently-concluded Assembly polls with Sonowal as the chief minister .

“As a mark of my respect for Sri @sarbanandsonwal and immense love for people of #Majuli, I made my first outside visit as CM to this glorious place. I promised to people to carry forward all development work initiated by Sri Sonowal with renewed vigour,” Sarma tweeted.

BJP insiders welcomed the visit, which they said was a “genuine reaching out” attempt by Sarma to convey his concern about the development of the river island, an important seat of Vaishanavite culture, besides assuaging the feelings of those who may have been hurt by the change of guard.

Sonowal, whose graceful handling of the transition has earned him all-round praise, reciprocated Sarma’s sentiments with a tweet, “Thank you HCM Shri @himantabiswafor your visit to my home constituency Majuli and giving due priority towards development of the sacred river island district.”

During the visit, Sarma visited the three leading satras, met the BJP, AGP and Ganashakti workers and reviewed the Covid-19 situation in Majuli district.

In fact, Sarma while assigning the districts they should visit to get a first-hand assessment of the alarming Covid situation in the state had chosen to visit Majuli.

Besides attending to official and party chores, Sarma also had an interaction with eight young friends whom he had met during electioneering in Majuli. The boys had asked him come again. He also had lunch with the boys.

Sarma assured the people of the river island that he would never let them feel the absence of a chief minister and that the pace of development in Majuli would receive greater momentum under the present government led by him while appreciating the development initiatives initiated by Sonowal.

Sarma visited three satras — Sri Sri Dakhinpaat, Sri Sri Auniati and Sri Sri Uttar Kamalabari Satra, known for their rich repository of Satriya culture and tradition — and prayed for the well-being of Assam, a government statement said.

He said the Covid-19 situation in Majuli is under control and assured that every eligible person of Majuli would get vaccine.

While reviewing the Covid situation in Guwahati on Wednesday night, Sarma had directed the health department to conduct one lakh Covid tests a day for early detection of active cases besides increasing institutional quarantine, micro containment zones and Covid care centres in a bid to arrest surging Covid-19 cases. He has also decided that the government will provide free food to the poor people in containment zones for two weeks.

Till Wednesday, Covid cases touched 40,970 with 5657 active cases detected during the day which also saw 71 deaths.