Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 14: The Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, the first non-CPM chief minister after 25 years of left rule, resigned on Saturday ahead of the 2023 state Assembly elections at the order of the party high command. He submitted his resignation to the resigned on Saturday and submitted his resignation to Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya at the Raj Bhawan in Agartala, apparently at the orders of the party high command which has stated searching for his successor in the state.
His resignation came after a two-day trip to New Delhi where he had met with party chief J.P. Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Deb, who had been to Delhi on Friday, said he would work in the party organisation to ensure the BJP was voted back to power in the state in the next elections.
“Party is above all. I was given charge of being the party’s state president by former BJP chief Amit Shah. I tried to work for the betterment of Tripura, both as a party chief and as chief minister. I have tried to do justice for the people of Tripura in whichever responsibility was given to me,” Deb said, speaking to reporters in front of Raj Bhawan Saturday afternoon.
Sources in the BJP said the legislative party was expected to meet the later Saturday evening to elect a new leader. Union minister Bhupender Yadav and BJP general secretary Vinod Tawde will be the central observers for the election of the new chief minister, the sources said. “The outgoing chief minister will be utilised for the party’s organisational works. We will have a new CM,” the sources added.
With the state scheduled to face Assembly elections early next year, the move came as a surprise to many, with even ministers in his Cabinet admitting that they had no prior indication that he would do so. Even the state BJP chief had no inclination about the change at the helm of the government and said he would have to talk to the high command leaders to find out the reasons behind securing Deb’s resignation by the party.
Deb said the BJP was planning to bring “responsible karyakartas” or workers into the party to prepare for the 2023 Assembly elections. “The party organisation is trying to bring responsible workers to the party. The government will stay if party organisation is there. If the (BJP) government has to stay for long, workers like me should work in the party, the party will benefit from it,” he said.
Asked about his next assignment, Deb said he was ready to work in any capacity, whether as chief minister or a ‘panna pramukh’, (a person in charge of a page of the voters’ list).
“We are taken by surprise. I don’t know what prompted him. But obviously he had discussions with the party central leadership. The party may have some plans and we are confident that it will be good for the party,” said a minister in Deb’s Cabinet.
Speaking to media persons, the BJP’s chief spokesperson Subrata Chakraborty said, “We have just heard about it. We don’t have enough information to comment on it yet. We have to discuss it with the party president before commenting.” He also said there is no information on the schedule of the legislative party meeting.
The BJP had earlier reposed faith on Deb despite a series of protests from party colleagues — slogans of ‘Biplab Hatao, Tripura Bachao’ were raised during a visit of the party’s national observer Vinod Sonkar at Agartala – and visits of BJP legislators to Delhi to complain about his way of handling things, among other issues.
Former health minister in the Biplab Deb cabinet, Sudip Roy Barman, was dropped from his position, purportedly because of a feud with the CM. Roy Barman eventually left BJP with another MLA Ashish Kumar Saha and joined Congress in January this year.
“This has been going on for over a year and Barman had met with the party high command last year, but somehow Biplab Deb’s position was safeguarded. The clashes between factions however did not stop even after these two MLAs left the party to join the Congress, and there were regular interactions with Delhi leaders and the lone minister from Tripura in the union council of ministers Pratima Bhowmik. This week, Biplab Deb was asked to come to Delhi and put in his papers,” said the source.
Deb had contested the Tripura Assembly elections for the first time in 2018 and became MLA from Banamalipur Assembly constituency at Agartala with a margin of 9,549 votes and was chosen as chief minister for BJP’s debut stint in Tripura. Assembly polls are due next year in Tripura, a State which has less numerical (with only two Lok Sabha seats) but a huge ideological importance for the BJP.
Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, which has been engaged in a fierce battle to win over the electorate in Tripura, was tart in its criticism of the outgoing Chief Minister. “Goodbye & good riddance to the CM who failed thousands of people in #Tripura! Enough damage done. So much so that even the top bosses at @BJP4India are fed up of his INCOMPETENCE. Folks at BJP seem very rattled by what @AITCofficial achieved in the state. CHANGE IS INEVITABLE,” the Trinamool tweeted.
Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma, who is related to the erstwhile Tripura royal family, and Pratima Bhowmik are considered to be frontrunners for the top post.
