Manik Saha takes oath as Tripura CM for second time

The BJP won 32 seats in the 60-member Tripura Legislative Assembly. The BJP's ally IPFT secured one seat.

Agartala:Manik Saha was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Tripura for the second consecutive time in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Vivekananda ground on Wednesday. The oath-taking ceremony was attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP President JP Nadda as well.

Along with Saha, eight other cabinet ministers, including Ratan Lal Nath, Pranajit Singha Roy, Santana Chakma, Sushanta Chowdhury, Tinku Roy, Bikash Debbarma, Sudhangshu Das, and Sukla Charan Noatia, also took oath. The BJP Tripura unit posted some pictures of the ceremony on its official Twitter handle.

Saha who joined BJP from Congress was successful enough to create a strong presence of the party in this North-eastern state. Saha is also considered to be trouble-shooter because he took the responsibility of the chief minister from Biplab Deb at the time of crisis and successfully led the party to victory. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha last year.

On Monday, Saha had called on Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya to stake claim to form the government. A general meeting of all the newly elected BJP MLAs was held, during which Saha was unanimously proposed as the leader of the legislature party.

The opposition Left and Congress parties did not participate in the ceremony, protesting against post-poll violence in the state. However, the council of ministers of the Manik Saha-led cabinet took the oath of office and secrecy.

Tripura has traditionally been a Left bastion for decades, and Saha's re-election marks the first time any anti-Left government has retained power in the northeastern state. On February 16 assembly elections, the BJP had won 32 seats in the 60-member Legislative Assembly, while its ally IPFT secured one seat.

The BJP Tripura unit chief spokesperson Subrata Chakraborty expressed hope that the new government would meet the aspirations of the people. "We hope that the BJP 2.0 government will be able to fulfil the promises made to the people and work for their betterment," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Meghalaya and Nagaland earlier this week and had taken part in the oath-taking ceremonies of the newly elected Chief Ministers. His visit was aimed at strengthening ties with the northeastern states and promoting development in the region.