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Journalism of Courage
BJP’s Manik Saha, who was unexpectedly made the Tripura Chief Minister barely nine months before the state elections, Wednesday began his second stint at the top post after being sworn in for a five-year term.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda and the party’s top brass attended the oath-taking ceremony in Agartala.
Eight other leaders, including four new faces, were sworn in as ministers.
The Chief Ministers of Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim — Himanta Biswa Sarma, N Biren Singh, Pema Khandu and Prema Singh Tamang — were the other notable attendees.
Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya administered the oath of office in Bengali to Saha. Initially seen as a loyalist of Biplab Kumar Deb, Saha has cemented his image as a mild-mannered politician who is critical of political hooliganism — a major criticism against his predecessor. Saha won his first-ever Assembly contest last year, defeating three-term MLA and Congress leader Ashish Kumar Saha by 6,104 votes in a bypoll. He secured his second victory with a margin of just 1,257 votes in the polls held on February 16 this year.
The BJP won 32 of 60 seats in the Tripura Assembly and its ally IPFT won one.
The ministers retained from the previous cabinet are Ratan Lal Nath, who served as Law and Parliamentary Affairs minister in the last cabinet, Pranajit Singha Roy, who served as transport minister; Santana Chakma, who served as social welfare and social education minister; and Sushanta Chowdhury, who served as information and cultural affairs minister.
The new ministers sworn in are BJP youth leader Tinku Roy, the party’s state Janajati Morcha chief Bikash Debbarma, BJP youth leader Sudhanshu Das and Shuklacharan Noatia, the lone MLA from the BJP’s alliance partner Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT).
Three ministerial berths have been kept vacant. Sources say these were offered to TIPRA Motha for being a part of the new government. The party won 13 seats in the polls, just one short of the tally of the Congress-CPM alliance.
The Motha has said it will only join any alliance if it is given a written agreement for its core Greater Tipraland demand or a constitutional solution is promised in writing for the welfare of tribals.
