Manik Saha will take oath as the new Chief Minister of Tripura today. He will replace Biplab Kumar Deb, who resigned from the post on Saturday. Taking a surprising step, BJP has appointed Rajya Sabha member Manik Saha as the new Chief Minister of Tripura. Deb was appointed chief minister in the northeastern state in 2018 after the BJP came to power, ending the 25-year rule of the Left Front.
The swearing-in ceremony of the Council of Ministers will be held on May 15 at 11:30 am at Raj Bhawan, Agartala. Dr Saha is a Rajya Sabha MP and the head of the party in the state. Assembly elections are to be held here in March next year. Dr Saha, a professor of dental surgery, will be expected to lead the party to victory in the assembly elections amid a multi-cornered contest in the northeastern state, where the Trinamool Congress is also trying to emerge as a key player.
Saha left Congress and joined BJP in 2016
Manik Saha is also the President of Tripura Cricket Association. Before joining mainstream politics, he used to teach at the Tripura Medical College, Hapania. Saha left the Congress and joined the BJP in 2016. He was made the party chief in 2020 and was elected to the Rajya Sabha in March this year. After being elected as the Chief Minister, Saha said that I am a common worker of the party and will continue to do so.
After the resignation, Deb said – the party is at the top
Deb resigned from his post amid fast-paced political developments in the state. He submitted his resignation to the state governor Satyadev Narayan Arya. Deb said, “The party is at the top. I am a loyal worker of BJP. I feel that I have done justice to the responsibility given, whether it is the post of state BJP unit president or the post of Tripura chief minister. Worked for the overall development of Tripura and ensured that there is peace for the people of the state.”
Before the elections in Uttarakhand, the bet of changing the chief minister was successful.
It is worth noting that in view of the successful change of chief minister in Uttarakhand just before the elections, top BJP leaders have opted for a similar change in Tripura, where elections are to be held early next year. The BJP has replaced five chief ministers, including those of Gujarat and Karnataka, since 2019. Saha is the fourth former Congress leader from the Northeast to become the chief minister of the region after joining the BJP. This is a clear indication that the electoral value of any leader is of paramount importance to the party.
