Chief Minister Manik Saha said that the BJP will contest in 55 constituencies in its bid to return to power in the northeastern state which has a 60-member assembly for the second time in a row.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies are well on the way to power in two north-eastern states, and is almost certain to be part of the ruling dispensation in the third.
Tipra Motha, a regional party floated by Pradoyt Kishore Manikya Debbarma, scion of the erstwhile royal family, is set to play a key role in the formation of the next government in Tripura.
Tipra Motha has decided to go solo and hopes to sweep the 20 tribal-dominated seats that hold the key to power in the northeastern state that has a 60-member assembly.
Speaking to PTI, state BJP chief spokesperson Subrata Chakraborty said his party was marching to form the next government in the state.
While Opposition MLAs in other states are dumping their parties to join the Bharatiya Janata Party, Tripura is seeing a reverse trend.
Seventy-year-old Bharatiya Janata Party leader Manik Saha on Wednesday took oath as chief minister of the sensitive border state of Tripura.
The opposition Left and the Congress will not participate in the oath-taking ceremony to protest against post-poll violence in the northeastern state.
Earlier in the day, Saha was elected as the leader of the BJP legislature party at a meeting held in Agartala on Monday.
All preparations for conducting free, fair and peaceful elections to the 60-member Tripura assembly on Thursday have been completed, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Gitte Kirankumar Dinakarro said.
In the recently concluded Tripura Assembly elections, the BJP won 32 seats in the 60-member Assembly while its ally IPFT won one seat.
With the declaration of results for the Tripura Assembly polls on Thursday, the Bharatiya Janata Party returned to power in the state by winning 32 seats and its ally Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) winning one.
Stakes are high for the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the counting of votes on Thursday for three state assembly polls, as the results will signal if it has deepened its roots in Tripura, a Left bastion captured by the party in 2018, and made further inroads in Meghalaya and Nagaland, or if the opposition has managed to dent its influence.
'Saha had taken charge in a difficult time and led the party to a crucial victory in the election. He deserves to be the next Chief Minister'
Twenty people have been arrested in connection with the post-poll violence incidents in the state, the police said.
The delegation led by Forest minister Mevar Kumar Jamatia, who is also the general secretary of IPFT met Shah on Thursday and submitted a five-point memorandum.
Nearly 88 per cent of voting was recorded in the one-day Tripura assembly elections, which were "largely peaceful', a senior EC official said on Friday.
Polling will take place in 3,328 polling booths, out of which 1,100 are sensitive and 28 are categorised as critical.
Outgoing Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Friday called on Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya and tendered his resignation.
Hrangkhawl who was representing the Karamcherra seat in the Dhalai District of Tripura was a four-time MLA.
The northeastern state is set to witness a triangular fight this time, with the BJP-IPFT coalition seeking to retain supremacy, the Left-Congress combine looking to wrest power, and regional outfit Tipra Motha making its debut at the hustings after its stunning performance in the autonomous council polls.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party managed to notch up a morale-boosting win on its 'Mission Northeast' on Thursday by retaining Tripura emphatically, despite anti-incumbency and newcomer Tipra Motha playing spoilers to its party, while also piggy-backing to power in Nagaland on Neiphiu Rio-led NDPP's shoulder.
'... that they should listen to people of the soil of the North East and find a permanent solution to tribal problems.'
Manik Saha was named as the next chief minister of the northeastern state of Tripura at a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party legislative party held in Agartala on Monday.
A total of 69.96 per cent of 28.13 lakh voters exercised their franchise in the Tripura assembly elections till 3 pm on Thursday, amid sporadic incidents of violence, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Gitte Kirankumar Dinakarrao said.
Saha has kept the home, health and family welfare and public works department with him while Ratan Lal Nath has been given the charge of power, agriculture and farmers' welfare, according to an official notification issued by Chief Secretary J K Sinha.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday held discussions with Tipra Motha supremo Pradyot Kishore Debbarma, in the presence of Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda, over various issues faced by the indigenous people of Tripura, a senior leader of the saffron party said.
A fact-finding team of MPs and MLAs from the Left parties and the Congress, which arrived in Agartala on Friday to look into post-poll violence in Tripura, was attacked in Sepahijala district, police said.
Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday said though there is no pre-poll adjustment with the Tipra Motha, there can be local-level understanding with the tribal party, which has emerged as the third pole in the upcoming Tripura elections.
The winning momentum is important for the BJP as the crucial state of Karnataka is next headed for assembly polls, expected in May, followed by Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram later this year.
Deb, whose name was proposed by party MLA Sudip Roy Burman in the meeting, will be the new chief minister of Tripura, Gadkari said.
From Saha joining the saffron party in 2016 to being made chief minister last year in a brand renewal exercise last year, it has been a short but upward journey for the 69-year-old dental surgeon-turned politician.
The venue holds significance as the announcement of Nagaland's statehood on December 1, 1963 was made from Kohima by the then president Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.
In Tripura, the challenge for the chief minister is less from the alliance partners and more from his own party, the BJP.
'If the government cannot deliver the goods for the tribal people, then definitely they will lose faith in the BJP.'
Uncertain political times in Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura.
The ruling BJP won three assembly seats and the Congress bagged one in the high-stakes by-elections in Tripura on Sunday, officials said.
It seems the grand old party is trying to stage a comeback in the state which it ruled at one time, but also to its progeny the Trinamool Congress which has vowed to come to power in Tripura in the 2023 state assembly elections.
The BJP's strong showing came as a surprise for many as the party did not even have a councillor in Tripura.
Sources said the move comes after an analysis sent by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to BJP's central leadership indicated there was a need for a change of guard in the party and government.
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