Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Manik Saha was sworn in as the chief minister of Tripura on Sunday, a day after his predecessor Biplab Kumar Deb resigned. Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya administered the oath of secrecy to Saha at a brief ceremony at Raj Bhawan. No other minister took oath along with Saha.
Deb was the first BJP chief minister of Tripura. Deb played a crucial role in the BJP’s thumping victory in 2018 assembly polls. Deb resigned from his post saying that he would now focus to strengthen the party organisation to ensure the BJP’s return in 2023 assembly polls.
Saha joined the BJP in 2015 and was made the chief of the party in 2020. He became Tripura’s first Rajya Sabha MP from the BJP this year. During his initial days in the party, he was panna pramukh in-charge of urban areas and also booth management committee in-charge in the 2018 assembly polls.
Barely 24 hours after meeting Union home minister Amit Shah, Deb tendered his resignation. Hours later, Saha was elected leader of the BJP legislature party. Through the unexpected move, the BJP leadership has once again relied on its mantra of replacing a CM just before the polls to beat anti-incumbency, as was done in Uttarakhand, where the party broke the trend of the ruling party being voted out.
After B S Yediyurappa (Karnataka), Trivendra Singh Rawat and Tirath Singh Rawat (both Uttarakhand) and Vijay Rupani (Gujarat), Deb is the fifth BJP CM to be replaced without completing the full five-year term. “The disgruntlement among the state party leaders was increasing fast. It was reflecting on the general mood in the state. However, the party leadership took its time before making the decision that it could not go to the state polls with so much discontent among the party cadres,” a senior party functionary said.
