Former Tripura Health Minister Sudip Roy Barman has resigned as the MLA of the legislative assembly. He has also resigned from the primary membership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The rebel BJP MLA who has quit from the party is likely to join the Congress on February 10. According to reports he is heading towards Delhi today.

Another BJP MLA, Ashish Das, who had earlier resigned from the primary membership of BJP, has now tendered his resignation as an MLA.

Sudip Roy Barman had hit out at the BJP last week, claiming that there is no democracy in the state and people are suffocating. “There is no shred of democracy in the state. People are suffocating because democratic oxygen has exhausted,” Barman had said.

The BJP had then said that it was closely observing Barman's movement and proper action would be taken "when the time comes". Barman had joined the BJP from the Trinamool Congress in 2017 ahead of the next year's Assembly elections.

He was removed as the health minister in June 2019, days after Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb warned of stern action against "enemies in the BJP".