Agartala: Former Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb won the Rajya Sabha by-poll held on Thursday. The BJP leader polled 43 votes, against 15 votes cast in favor of Left Front candidate Bhanulal Saha.
“Gratitude to the BJP and IPFT MLAs of Tripura for electing me as a Rajya Sabha MP. Gratitude to PM Sri @narendramodi Ji, @BJP4India President Sri @JPNadda Ji & HM Sri @AmitShah for giving me this opportunity to represent Tripura in Rajya Sabha,” Deb tweeted after his victory.
The state’s lone Rajya Sabha seat fell vacant after Manik Saha, now chief minister, resigned in June to contest an Assembly by-poll.
Deb, who had been without any major assignment for a couple of months, was recently made the BJP in charge of Haryana. On balancing parliamentary work with his organizational role, he said, “I have already started working in Haryana and will work in Parliament as well, in any capacity entrusted by the central government.”
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Jubilant party workers celebrated the win in front of the BJP headquarters at Krishnanagar in the state capital. While the results were certain given that the BJP has 36 MLAs in the 60-member Assembly, Saha said all elections were equally important.
The BJP’s alliance partner, the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura, has seven MLAs and the Opposition CPM and Congress have 15 and 1 legislator respectively. One IPFT MLA has been disqualified. The lone Congress MLA, Sudip Roy Barman, reportedly did not cast his vote.
