Amid resentment, 11 Tripura ministers take oath

Altogether eleven MLAs - nine from the BJP and two from the IPFT - took oath as the cabinet ministers of Tripura on Monday.

Agartala: Amidst growing resentment among a section of MLAs in Tripura, 11 ministers took oath on Monday, a day after new Chief Minister Manik Saha assumed office. Of the 11 ministers, nine MLAs of the BJP and two IPFT legislators took the oaths administered by Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya during a ceremony at the Raj Bhawan here. Among them, nine were in the Council of Ministers headed by former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, who resigned on Saturday.

The Ministers who took oath on Monday are Jishnu Dev Varma (Deputy Chief Minister), Ratan Lal Nath, Pranajit Singha Roy, Manoj Kanti Deb, Santana Chakma, Ram Prasad Paul, Bhagaban Chandra Das, Sushanta Chowdhury, Rampada Jamatia, all from the BJP; and Narendra Chandra Debbarma and Prem Kumar Reang from the IPFT. Chakma is the only female Minister in the Council.

The strength of the Council is 12, including the Chief Minister. Veteran leaders Jamatia and Reang are the only fresh faces, the nine other Ministers are from the Council which was headed by Deb.

With the internal feud in the IPFT, former Forest and Tribal Welfare Minister Mevar Kumar Jamatia was dropped by the party supremo Narendra Chandra Debbarma. Saha, who is also the Tripura BJP President, was sworn in on Sunday as the 12th Chief Minister of the state just a day after Biplab Kumar Deb resigned from the top post.

Main opposition CPI-M led Left Front, Congress and other political parties boycotted the swearing-in-ceremonies on Sunday and Monday alleging large scale political attacks. The election to the 60-member Tripura Assembly is due in January-February 2023. Since May 2019, Tripura had witnessed waves of revolt by dissident BJP MLAs and leaders against Deb.

Deb, 51, became the Chief Minister on March 9, 2018, after the BJP-IPFT alliance came to power by defeating the Left Front in the Assembly elections, ending the latter's 25-year rule.

IANS