Seventy-year-old Bharatiya Janata Party leader Manik Saha on Wednesday took oath as chief minister of the sensitive border state of Tripura.
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.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Sunday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Mann Ki Baat programme was more popular among the masses than Mahabharat and Ramayan mega TV serials of the 1980s.
The CM said he was proud that he was born in a country which had the "best communication system" and "best culture" in the whole world.
Outgoing Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Friday called on Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya and tendered his resignation.
Former Chief Minister Biplab Deb, whose sudden resignation on Saturday evening got Saha the top job, was present at the ceremony along with BJP MLAs and state ministers.
The opposition Left and the Congress will not participate in the oath-taking ceremony to protest against post-poll violence in the northeastern state.
Biplab Kumar Deb is accused of 'punching above his weight' and being 'ignorant' of Tripura's ground realities.
The decision was taken to ensure the betterment of the state and the party in the days to come, senior leader Ratan Lal Nath told reporters shortly after Saha, the state BJP president, took oath as the new chief minister.
The ruling BJP won three assembly seats and the Congress bagged one in the high-stakes by-elections in Tripura on Sunday, officials said.
Deb said that he would ask people whether they want him to continue as the chief minister.
Party is above all. I am a loyal worker of the BJP. I hope I have done justice to the responsibilities that were given to me, said Biplab Deb.
There have been rumours of infighting within the BJP's state unit.
According to the chief minister, the common man, small traders and daily labourers are the worst sufferers of the demonetisation scheme.
Saha said BJP is confident about winning the assembly elections due this year.
Deb cancelled the mandate event he had fixed on December 13 following intervention of BJP president J P Nadda, state observer Vinod Sonkar and the state ministers and BJP legislators reposing faith in him.
He also mentioned that despite repeated caution by his former Chief Secretary on the ground of contempt of court, his Cabinet took the decision for the ad hoc promotion of the government officials, which is a long-pending issue in the Supreme Court.
'I have seen, even in my village, people hanging pictures of Communist leaders -- Jyoti Basu, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong -- in their drawing rooms. Could we not hang pictures of Swami Vivekananda? '
Earlier, too, Biplab Deb has courted controversies on several occasions. In 2018, he said internet and satellite television existed in the time of the Mahabharata.
Sarkar, who is also the home minister of the state, said his government was keeping a close surveillance on the functioning of the chit funds in the state and had enacted a rule for protection of the depositors.
He served the right-wing organisation for around 16 years under the guidance of Gobinda Acharya and Krishnagopal Sharma, two prominent Sangh leaders.
The announcement was made after AICC general secretary Ajoy Kumar held a meeting with CPI-M state secretary Jitendra Choudhury on Friday evening.
On Wednesday, the Tripura chief minister said that famous Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore refused the Nobel Prize in protest against the English.
Former Tripura chief minister and sitting Congress legislator Sudhir Ranjan Majumder passed away on Sunday following a massive cardiac arrest. Majumder, 75, breathed his last in the wee hours after he was shifted to hospital late on Saturday night following a heart attack. He is survived by his wife.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on Wednesday congratulated Somdev Devvarman for winning gold medal for India in the Asian Games.
The Election Commission on Tuesday cautioned Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar against misuse of official machinery for political purposes in violation of the Model Code of Conduct.
The army has expressed 'serious' concern over the assault and public humiliation of a senior ranking officer of the army in Agartala recently allegedly by sons of a former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and has sought urgent action against the culprits.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has asked the Centre to seal off the porous Indo-Bangla border to prevent infiltration by militants from Bangladesh. More than 100 camps of North East-based militants, including the United Liberation Front of Asom, National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Issac-Muivah) among others are operating within Bangladesh. India shares a 4,095 km-long border with Bangladesh, including the longest in West Bengal at 2,216-km, part of which is porous.
Deb, whose name was proposed by party MLA Sudip Roy Burman in the meeting, will be the new chief minister of Tripura, Gadkari said.
"I am ready to take the responsibility. I will not run away from taking the responsibility," he said when asked if he would accept the task of chief ministership.
The CM believes "narrow-minded" ideas like graduates cannot opt for farming or start poultry are the reasons behind unemployment.
He said he failed to understand the "process of judgement" of the crowning of the Miss World contest in 1997, in which Diana Hayden had got the award.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on Wednesday termed the United Progressive Alliance's publication of its performance, 'The Report to the People,' as a "report card of failure."
Governor Tathagata Roy also administered the oath of office to BJP leader Jishnu Deb Burman as the deputy chief minister along with seven other ministers, including Indigenous People's Front of Tripura chief N C Debbarma.
A Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front government headed by Manik Sarkar assumed office for the fourth consecutive term in Tripura on Monday. Sarkar was sworn in as the chief minister for the fourth time along with 11 ministerial colleagues by Governor Dinesh Nandan Sahaya.
BJP CMs promote a lawless culture, one where groups backed by the State are encouraged to attack fellow citizens, where being trigger-happy is the official police policy, notes Jyoti Punwani.
'Tell me, one BJP policy that Mamata has opposed and is fighting tooth and nail?' Be it Article 370, instant triple talaq, be it CAA/NRC/NPR, be it notebandi, FDI, she has aligned with the BJP.'
This is your golden chance to create the next big thing in India.
'Just last month alone, 28 Indians have been killed in lynchings'
Rajya Sabha member and Congress leader, Rasheed Masood, was sentenced to four years in jail by a Delhi court in a corruption case on Tuesday, becoming the first MP to lose his seat after a recent Supreme Court judgment had removed the immunity for convicted lawmakers.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances