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Tripura BJP chief Rajib Bhattacharjee elected to Rajya Sabha
Tripura’s lone Rajya Sabha seat had become vacant after former chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb won the Lok Sabha poll from West Tripura constituency this year
Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) Tripura unit chief Rajib Bhattacharjee was elected to the Rajya Sabha after bagging 47 out of total 60 votes in the state Assembly on Monday.
Of the total 60 MLAs, 57 members except the three Congress MLAs voted today. Bhattacharjee’s opponent, former CPI(M) MLA Sudhan Das, received only ten votes (from his party only).
“Out of the 57, I got 47 votes. I am thankful to MLAs from BJP and our alliance partners IPFT and TIPRA Motha parties. I express my gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, (Union) home minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda for their faith on me. I shall try to work to accelerate development for the people further by raising developmental activities taken up by the state, in Parliament”, said Bhattacharjee after conclusion of counting of votes.
In 2023 Assembly polls, Bhattacharjee contested from Banamalipur seat, erstwhile home-turf of former chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb, but was defeated. After resigning from CM’s post, Deb was elected as a Rajya Sabha member.
The state’s lone Rajya Sabha seat became vacant after Biplab won the Lok Sabha poll from West Tripura constituency this year.
Reacting to absence of Congress MLAs during voting, CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury said, “The presiding officer need not count votes to know (who will win in this election). But this is a political election. The Left is opposed to the ideology of BJP and that’s why we fielded our candidate against their (BJP) candidate. Congress has taken their own stand. We don’t have anything to say”.
Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Sudip Roy Barman said, “The CPI(M) declared their candidate without any discussion with us.It was their decision. But they cannot expect us to follow their decision and vote”.
