Amid flaring discontent in Tripura BJP, Biplab Deb targets ‘outsiders’ for hurting its prospects

Biplab said he would continue to do any job given to him by the saffron party under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “BJP-led government is in power for second term (in Tripura). Since the state was freed from communists, I have tried to do my job with maximum efforts. I believe in the leadership of PM Modi. I shall continue to do my job in any position assigned to me,” he said.

However, in a sharp critique of the party unit’s state of affairs, Biplab said: “Our party is a disciplined unit but from time to time, I see people interfering from outside. We shall run the party ourselves under leadership of Modi and Shah. The party and government will run in right direction. I have apprised the leadership of such external interferences. I have full faith in PM Modi. I got the chance to work with his blessings. I shall work in whatever capacity he asks me to work.”

The ex-CM’s remarks reflect the growing tension in the Tripura BJP, sources said. Earlier, CM Manik Saha’s remarks about continuity of the government and non-indispensability of the leaders was seen as a swipe at his predecessor. At an organisation event earlier this month, Saha said the governments will continue and that he would be giving the baton to someone else, who would in turn hand it over to another person.

“Nobody is permanent. If I think Tripura would not run without me, it would be like living with an illiterate person. It is uncultured (to have such thinking). We are seeing how a chief minister of four-five years is vanishing,” Saha was quoted as saying. Sources close to Deb said the CM was targeting him. Deb’s comments on Sunday were in response to it, sources said.
Asked what he meant by “external influence”, Biplab declined to give details but said, “Everyone understands who is externally influencing and why. The party organisation is adversely affected here due to this. I’m not a bureaucrat. But whenever such interference happens, it’s my duty to present it before the right place. I shall do my job.”
Biplab, who spearheaded the BJP’s campaign in the 2018 Assembly polls, which ended the CPI(M)-led Left’s 25-year rule in the state, was unceremoniously replaced as the CM with Manik Saha, his once-close aide and Rajya Sabha MP.

Since then, Biplab’s presence in major political events in the state has been erratic. He was last seen holding a few health camps as part of his MP area development mandate.

He told reporters Sunday, “The party is not of any one particular person. Most of the state leaders have worked with me. 80 per cent of them joined (when I was at the helm)… They haven’t come from elsewhere. But they have to understand how to work in the party.”

The current state BJP president Rajib Bhattacharjee was once a close associate of Biplab and is still said to have good equations with him.

However, sources said Biplab’s relations with Manik Saha got strained as the latter, shortly after his ascension to the CM’s post, issued terse warnings against hooliganism and political violence while asserting that illegal activities would no longer be tolerated in the state.

Biplab insisted that today he would not give any more details about those hurting the BJP’s prospects in Tripura but said he was confident that the party would win both the Lok Sabha seats in the state in the 2024 general elections.

Biplab’s remarks came hours after he arrived in Agartala after spending nearly 20 days in Delhi and Haryana.

He is the party in-charge of Haryana. In Tripura, he is still a member of the party’s state core committee.

Sources close to him said Deb would have spoken out more on his reservations about the party’s state of affairs but he kept mum on many issues at the instructions of certain senior party leaders.

It was also said he would again return to New Delhi this evening as the party leadership called him there shortly after his media briefing.

Speaking to media persons later in the evening, Rajib Bhattacharjee said he would speak with Biplab to know about his grievances. “Biplab Deb is our leader. He is now the prabhari of Haryana which is a big state. He is also our ex-CM. We shall discuss whatever he said. I shall speak with him to know about his grievances… We want Biplab da. Manik da (CM Manik Saha) is also our leader. We want to work together with all leaders.”

Rajib also said he has seen Biplab’s press briefing and would speak with him soon, adding if there are any shortcomings they would be rectified.

The BJP won 36 of the state’s total 60 seats in 2018, garnering 43.59 per cent vote share. In the Assembly polls earlier this year, the party managed to secure a simple majority by winning just 31 seats, with its vote share dipping to 38.97 per cent.