Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Tuesday evening took the fight to his detractors by urging the public to gather at the Astabal ground in Agartala on December 13 and speak their mind on whether he should continue in his post.

Deb made the announcement at a news meet in Agartala in response to slogans — “Biplab hatao, BJP bachao (Remove Biplab, save BJP)”, “Biplab hatao, Tripura bachao (Remove Biplab, save Tripura)” — raised by a section of BJP supporters in front of party observer Vinod Sonkar in the Tripura capital on Sunday.

“If they want me to leave, I will inform the party leadership and leave. I will abide by the people’s wish. I request everyone to come and share their opinions,” Deb said.

The chief minister said the sloganeering by a few people had left him pained and disturbed.

Deb said he called for the public gathering on December 13 as he wanted to know whether the people at large think the same way.

A group of rebel BJP legislators had recently also visited Delhi seeking a change of guard, a move the MLAs have denied.

The BJP had stormed to power with its ally, the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT), in 2018 by winning 44 out of 60 seats in the Assembly polls and ending 25 years of Left rule in Tripura.