Manik Saha is Tripura’s new CM as Deb resigns
AGARTHALA: In a sudden political development, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb resigned from his post on Saturday, top officials said.
Accompanied by Union Minister Bhupender Yadav, Central Observer Vinod Sonkar and other leaders, Deb went to the Raj Bhavan on Saturday aternoon and submited his resignation to Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya.
Ater coming out of the Raj Bhavan, Deb, also a former state BJP president, said that for the interest of the party and considering the assembly elections due next year, he resigned from the chief minister’s post.
“Whatever responsibility the party gave me, I tried to perform with utmost sincerity and honesty. Now if the party decides that I will have to work for the organisation, I will do that.” “During my tenure as the chief minister, I tried to give justice to the people, and tried to undertake developmental and welfare works for the all-round development of the state,” Deb told the media.
Deb became the chief minister on March 9, 2018 ater the BJP-IPFT alliance came to power by defeating the Let Front in the assembly elections, ending the later’s 25-year rule.
Tripura BJP president and newly-elected Rajya Sabha member Manik Saha would be the next Chief Minister.
Ater the hurriedly called BJP legislative party meeting, Deb announced Saha’s name for the top post, stating that he would extend all kinds of cooperation to the new chief minister.
Saha, the 67-year-old dental surgeon-turnedpolitician, was elected to the Rajya Sabha from the lone seat of Tripura on March 31.
Saha, also a professor at the Tripura Medical College and BR Ambedkar Memorial Teaching Hospital in Agartala, as well as the president of the Tripura Cricket Association, joined the BJP in 2016.
In 2021, Saha, a close associate of Deb, became the President of the Tripura BJP Pradesh Commitee.
Amid open resentment by a section of the ruling BJP MLAS and leaders in Tripura, the cabinet expansion took place on Aug.31 last year by inducting three ministers even as the dissident MLAS and BJP leaders boycoted the swearingin-ceremony.