State BJP prez Manik replaces Biplab Deb as Chief Minister
About a year ahead of the Assembly polls in Tripura, the BJP on Saturday elected its State president Dr Manik Saha, a dentist, as the new Chief Minister in place of Biplab Kumar Deb, who, in a surprise move, was asked to put in his papers by the party’s central leadership.
Increasing factional fighting in the State BJP and dissent against Deb were among the major reasons for his ouster. Deb had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda here on Thursday. Elections to the 60-member Tripura Assembly will be held early next year.
Saha was elected as the BJP legislature party leader in the presence of central observers Bhupender Yadav and Vinod Tawde. But it wasn’t a smooth affair. As Deb proposed the 69-year-old Saha’s name in the meeting, Minister Ram Prasad Paul protested, which led to a scuffle among the MLAs.
Sources said Paul, who wanted Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma, a member of the erstwhile Tripura royal family, as Deb’s successor also broke a few chairs before the situation was calmed.
Saha later met the Governor at Raj Bhavan and submitted the claim to form the Government with a letter of support from the party legislators. Saha promised to continue working for the State as well as the BJP.
“Our chemistry (of Saha and Deb) is strong. Earlier also, I worked for the party and will continue to do it,” Saha said. The decision was taken hours after Deb, who was the CM for four years, tendered his resignation to Governor SN Arya, saying that the party wants him to “work to strengthen the organisation” and that there is a “need to bring the party to power again”.
“I did my best,” said the outgoing Chief Minister and stressed that he would work for the party” and that “Biplab Deb can fit in anywhere”.
Deb could again be made State BJP chief.
“Party is above all. I am a loyal worker of the BJP. I hope I have done justice to the responsibilities that were given to me -- whether it was BJP State president or Tripura Chief Minister. I have worked for the overall development of Tripura and to ensure peace for the people in the State,” Deb told news persons at Agartala, the State Capital.
The BJP made a history in 2018 when it came to power ending 25-year-old rule of a well-entrenched Left front dispensation. Deb became the first BJP CM of Tripura.
The replacement of Deb with Saha is akin to changes in the top made by the central leadership (read Modi-Shah) in Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Karnataka, months before the elections in a bid to beat the anti-incumbency. While the BJP retained Uttarakhand, the result of its move in the other two States remains to be seen.
Though the sudden change in Uttarakhand played political dividends with the party returning to power in the hill State, Tripura is set to be a different ball game with the Left, the Congress and an aggressive Trinamool Congress (TMC) seeking to capitalize on the “groupism” in the Tripura BJP.
Health Minister Sudip Roy Burman, a challenger to Deb, recently quit the BJP and crossed over to the Congress.
Saha, a dental surgeon turned politician who quit the Congress and joined the BJP in 2016, was made the party’s State president in 2020. Earlier this year, Saha was elected to Rajya Sabha in the lone seat from Tripura.
Saha as State BJP president had announced an 18-member committee of office-bearers and seven spokespersons even as demands from within the party were made to remove him.
TMC Rajya Sabha member Sushmita Deb said, “The BJP has done course correction but very late.”
She claimed that Burman joining the Congress prompted the exit of the CM who she said “did not deliver on the poll promises” and described Deb as “non-serious CM”. Sushmita said her party is working hard in the State since last August before she joined the party.
Sushmita alleged that the BJP did not allow four by-elections as it feared defeat before the assembly contest, February-March, next year.
The TMC is looking at the large chunk of Bengali population in Tripura with the TMC General Secretary and West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee visiting the State twice this year.
The Left and the Congress too have problems with reorganizing their State organisations and cadre.