Manik Saha was sworn in for his second term as the Chief Minister of Tripura on Wednesday following the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) victory in the state in the assembly polls held on February 16. Apart from Saha, eight other ministers were sworn-in today.
The swearing-in ceremony in Tripura’s Agartala was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP national general secretary Jagat Prakash Nadda. Alongside them was present Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, credit for being the architect of the saffron party’s success in the Northeast.
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh and Sikkim Chief Minister PS Tamang were among the dignitaries to attend the oath-taking ceremony in Tripura. Former Tripura Chief Minister, BJP’s Biplab Deb, who had been replaced mid-term, was also on the stage.
Meanwhile, four of the ministers in the new Tripura cabinet have been retained from the previous government. They are Ratan Lal Nath, Pranjit Singha Roy, Shantana Chakma and Sushanta Chowdhury.
Moreover, the BJP inducted three new ministers in the new Tripura government from within its ranks. They are Tinku Roy, a close associate of Biplab Deb, Bikash Debbarma, the chief of BJP’s Scheduled Tribes Morcha and Sudhanshu Das.
On the other hand, the saffron party’s ally in Tripura, the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), which was routed in the recently held assembly polls, got one ministerial berth. Sukla Charan Noatia from IPFT was among those sworn in today.
According to reports, the ruling party in Tripura has kept three ministerial berths as it still harbors plans to concoct an alliance with the TIPRA Motha, which was able to win 13 seats in the election. Earlier, the talks with royal scion Pradyot Manikya Debbarma-led TIPRA Motha had fallen through over the party’s demand for a ‘Greater Tipraland’.
It has also surfaced that Union minister Pratima Bhoumik is likely to hold on to her parliamentary seat and will vacate the Dhanpur assembly seat in Tripura that she had won in the recently concluded elections.
It may be noted that the principle opposition, including CPM and Congress decided to boycott the ceremony in order to protest against the post-poll violence in Tripura.
