Former RSS worker front runner for Tripura CM post

Biplab Kumar Deb, 48, could be the next chief minister of Tripura, two BJP leaders privy to internal deliberations said. He is currently the chief of Tripura BJP and won from Agartala’s Banamalipur constituency.

The BJP has brought to a close the 25-year-long Left rule in Tripura and ended the 20-year long stint of Manik Sarkar as the CM.

“He (Deb) is the front runner for CM’s post and our pre-election surveys showed he had a popularity rating higher than Sarkar,” a BJP general secretary said.

“He worked closely with the BJP and the RSS to end the CPM’s hegemony in Tripura. He is an organisational man, trained in the RSS, and has a no-nonsense image in the BJP,” another office bearer of the BJP said.

Deb, a former volunteer of the RSS, was trained by Sunil Doedhar, the BJP’s prabhari for Tripura, in the outfit and the veteran, KN Govindacharya, was his mentor.

Deb also worked as an assistant to Ganesh Singh, the BJP’s MP from Madhya Pradesh’s Satna , before moving to Tripura in 2016 as the party chief there.

The decision to send him to Tripura was a calculated move by the BJP. Deb was young as well as a ‘local face’. It was believed that he could power the BJP’s bid to dislodge the CPM along with the help of strategists such as national general secretary, Ram Madhav, and Himanta Biswa Sarma.

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