The BJP, which stunned the 25-year-old regime of the CPI(M) on Saturday by winning a convincing majority on its own in Tripura, is all set to form its maiden Government there with its pre-poll alliance partner Indigenous Peoples’ Front of Tripura (IPFT), a tribal outfit. The new Government will take oath on Thursday.
Newly elected MlAs of the BJP and its ally IPFT will meet in the State Capital Agartala on March 6 to elect their leader, said State BJP president Biplab Deb there on Sunday. Deb is expected to be appointed as the Chief Minister.
“We are waiting for the Central observers of the party to arrive in the State soon. The party observers will submit a report to the party high command, who will finally take a call on who will become the Chief Minister,” said Deb.
“Senior BJP leaders and Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari and Juel Oram are scheduled to arrive here as Central observers on Tuesday and we hope to form the Government by Thursday next,” said Deb while interacting with the mediapersons. He also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and many other Union Ministers are likely to attend the oath-taking ceremony.
While the saffron party scripted a history by winning 35 seats, its partner IPFT, having substantial base among the tribals in the Northeastern State, won eight seats making the combine strength to 43 in the 60 seat State Assembly. Polling was countermanded in one seat due to the death of a CPI(M) candidate.
Biplab, the CM pick for the State, has been the president of Tripura BJP since 2016. Born in Gomoti district, he completed his schooling and graduation from Tripura before moving to Delhi for higher studies. During his time in Tripura, he worked as a gym instructor. His wife is a deputy manager at the Parliament branch of State Bank of India. The couple has two children.
An RSS worker, who rose through the ranks, Deb fought the 2018 elections from the Banamalipur constituency in Agartala and won with a margin of over 9,500 votes. He was mentored in RSS first by KN Govindacharya and thereafter by BJP leader Sunil Deodhar. In 2014, Deodhar was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign manager in Varanasi. That year, he was made the BJP’s Tripura in-charge and was instrumental in appointing Biplab the State unit’s youngest ever party chief.
The elections in 59 seats of the 60-member Assembly were held on February 18 and results for the State, Meghalaya and Nagaland were announced on Saturday that made BJP almost sweep the entire North-East, capturing power in seven of the eight States (except Mizoram) in the region that was once dominated by the Congress and the left. The CPI(M)-led left Front could secure only 16 out of 59 Assembly seats in Tripura with Congress going a duck.
Deb met the outgoing Chief Minister Manik Sarkar at the latter’s official residence and sought his blessings. He also paid a courtesy visit to the CPI(M) headquarters at Agartala and paid floral homage to the late CPI(M) leader and former Minister Khagendra Jamatya, who had breathed his last in Delhi’s AIIMS hospital on Thursday morning.
“We are going to fulfil all the promises. Development of the State is a commitment and we’ll do our best to fulfil all that we have mentioned in the manifesto,” said Deb while thanking the people of the State for giving a strong mandate to the party in the February 27 polls.
Meanwhile, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, who had been in charge of the State since 1998, on Sunday met State’s Governor Tathagata Roy at the Raj Bhavan and handed over his resignation.
Roy accepted the resignation but requested Sarkar to continue till a new Government is formed.
After assuming office, the BJP Government will have its task cut out in Tripura with a host of promises it made to electorate. Apart from the development agenda highlighted by the Prime Minister and BJP national president Amit Shah, the saffron party has assured 7th pay commission salary to the 1.50 lakh of Government employees in the State, offered to create employment opportunities for youth and pay the teachers of the State on a par with those in other parts of the country.