The caretaker Chief Minister of Tripura, Manik Saha, has been elected as the as the leader of BJP legislative party on Monday, after the party’s victory in the recently concluded assembly polls.
During a meeting earlier today, Saha’s name was unanimously proposed by the newly elected BJP MLAs for the leader of the legislature party.
"My sincere gratitude to all for electing me as the leader of the legislature party. Under the guidance of PM Narendra Modi ji, we shall work together to build 'Unnata Tripura, Shrestha Tripura' and ensure the welfare of all sections of people," tweeted Saha after the meeting.
Saha had on Friday submitted his resignation to Governor Satyadev Narayan Arya at Raj Bhavan in Agartala and the Governor asked him to continue till the new government is sworn in.
According to the Election Commission of India, BJP won 32 seats with a vote share of around 39 per cent. Tipra Motha Party came second by winning 13 seats. Communist Party of India (Marxist) got 11 seats while Congress bagged three seats. The Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) managed to open its account by winning one seat.
The CPI(M) and the Congress, arch rivals in Kerala, came together in the Northeast this time in a bid to oust the BJP from power. The combined vote share of CPI(M) and Congress remained around 33 per cent.
Chief Minister Saha defeated Congress' Asish Kumar Saha from the Town Bordowali seat by a margin of 1,257 votes. In the 60-member Tripura assembly, the majority mark is 31.
The BJP, which had never won a single seat in Tripura before 2018, stormed to power in the last election in alliance with IPFT and had ousted the Left Front which had been in power in the border state for 35 years since 1978.
