Tripura assembly session to begin today

Tripura’s new BJPIPFT coalition government would convene in the first Assembly session on March 23. The first-day session would begin with governor Tathagta Roy’s speech and election of speaker and deputy speaker.

BJP MLA Ratan Chakraborty was sworn in as protem speaker. Statutory committees like Public Accounts Committee (PAC) would also be formed in this session, which is likely to be continued until March 31.

The government is supposed to table vote-on-accounts during this session.

BJP MLA Dilip Das (from Barjala in western Tripura) and advocate general Arun Kanti Bhowmik, also BJP spokesperson, are expected to be elected as speaker and deputy speaker, respectively.

The alliance of Bharatiya Janata Party and Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura unseated the 25-year-old Marxist government in the state in the recent assembly elections securing 44 seats. The saffron party got 36 seats leaving eight seats to its alliance partner.

The CPI(M) secured 16 seats in a steep decline from 51 seats it had won in 2013 elections.

Biplab Kumar Deb was appointed as the chief minister of the state, the post occupied by Manik Sarkar for four consecutive terms.

Veteran BJP leader – Jishnu Dev Varma was made deputy chief minister.

Sarkar has been nominated as Leader of Opposition while former Left minister Badal Choudhury would act as his deputy.

Another former minister Tapan Chakraborty was made the party’s chief whip.

Among the nine-member cabinet of BJP government, two berths have been given to IPFT.

Biplab Deb has kept vital departments with him like Home, General administration, PWD, Labour , Information and Cultural Affairs, Industries and Commerce. Jishnu Dev Varma was allocated charges of Finance, Power, Rural Development, Planning and Coordination including Statistics departments.

Of the seven Congressturned-Trinamool CongressturnedBJP MLAs, three were given portfolios. Ratan Lal Nath was given charges of education, law, OBC and minorities departments, Sudip Roy Barman was distributed departments of health, science and technology, information technology and DWS while Pranajit Singha Roy would look after departments of transport, agriculture and tourism.

AGARTALA: THE BJPIPFT UNSEATED THE 25YEAROLD LEFT FRONT GOVERNMENT IN THE STATE IN RECENT ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS BY SECURING 44 SEATS, REDUCING CPI(M) TO 16