Manik Saha takes oath as Tripura chief minister

Manik Saha replaced Biplab Kumar Deb as the chief minister of Tripura. Saha was administered the oath of secrecy by governor Satyadeo Narain Arya at a brief ceremony at Raj Bhawan.

AGARTALA: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajya Sabha MP Dr. Manik Saha was sworn in as the chief minister of Tripura on Sunday, a day after his predecessor Biplab Kumar Deb resigned.

Manik Saha, a popular dentist who joined the BJP in 2015, was made the chief of the party’s Tripura unit in 2020. He became the BJP’s first Rajya Sabha member from Tripura this year. (Twitter/Mani Saha)

Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya administered the oath of secrecy to Saha at a brief ceremony at Raj Bhawan. No other minister took oath along with Saha.

Saha replaced Biplab Kumar Deb who was the first BJP chief minister of Tripura. Deb played a crucial role in the BJP’s thumping victory in 2018 assembly polls. Deb resigned from his post on Saturday saying that he would now focus to strengthen the party organisation to ensure the BJP’s return in 2023 assembly polls.

A popular dentist, Saha joined the BJP in 2015 and was made the chief of the party in 2020. He became Tripura’s first Rajya Sabha MP from the BJP this year. During his initial days in the party, he was panna pramukh in-charge of urban areas and also booth management committee in-charge in the 2018 assembly polls.

He was made in-charge of the 2018 membership drive started by the saffron party before the state went for polls.