Steering BJP to a second term victory, seventy-year-old leader Manik Saha has cemented his position as a political heavyweight of the northeastern state.
Saha registered a victory over Congress veteran Ashish Saha with a margin of 1,257 votes from the prestigious Town Bardowali seat, an upscale locality on the outskirts of the state capital Agartala. His individual performance coupled with BJP’s clean sweep in the polls has removed all possible doubts or detractions on his claim for Tripura’s chief minister post.
Although the BJP had sought votes under “Modi-Manik Saha sarkar”, there was no official announcement that Saha would be made the chief minister again.
Union Minister of State for Social Empowerment and Justice Pratima Bhoumik, who was initially touted to be the next chief minister, recommended Saha’s name for the position, which was followed by a unanimous nod from the BJP’s legislature unit.
Replacing Biplab Kumar Deb in 2022, Manik Saha had been made chief minister in a brand renewal exercise after the BJP found that Deb’s approval rating was deteriorating due to his abrasive statements and the poor law and order situation in Tripura.
Manik Saha has come a long way since his joining the party in 2016. From being the head of BJP’s electoral machinery to the president of the state cricket association, Saha became a member of the Rajya Sabha in March 2022 following his ascension to the chief minister’s post.
The BJP won 32 seats in the 60-member House in the recent assembly elections in Tripura, while its ally IPFT managed to secure one seat. The TIPRA Motha party emerged as the second largest party, bagging a total of 13 seats while the Left and Congress, who had contested the polls in an alliance, managed to secure 11 and 3 seats respectively.
“This is the first time that any anti-Left government has retained power in the northeastern state in the past three decades. We hope the BJP 2.0 government will meet the aspirations of the people,” BJP Tripura unit chief spokesperson Subrata Chakraborty said.
