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Will campaign after Delhi visit, says Tripura BJP on ex-CM Biplab Deb’s role
A month after his exit from the Tripura government, there is no clarity on the role that former chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb will play in the state BJP for the 2023 assembly elections
Former Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb will start campaigning for the June 23 bypolls on four seats after returning from his Delhi visit to meet the BJP leadership, the Tripura unit of Bharatiya Janata Party said on Monday.
Deb suddenly resigned as chief minister on instructions of the party leadership on May 14 and was quickly replaced by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). When Deb announced his resignation, he told reporters that the BJP wanted to strengthen the party organisation for the 2023 assembly elections.
“To keep BJP in power for a long time, if a party activist, like me, works to strengthen the organisation, it will be helpful,” Deb said after sending his resignation to governor Satyadeo Narain Arya.
But a month on, the BJP is yet to announce a new role for the former chief minister in the party.
Biplab Deb hasn’t hit the campaign trail either except for accompanying his successor, Manik Saha to file his nomination papers for the Town Bordowali by-poll, Saha’s first election.
Veteran political writer S Bhattacharya said it was possible that Biplab Deb’s absence from campaigning could be linked to the BJP leadership’s stress on projecting Saha as the presumptive chief minister for the assembly elections next year.
At an election meeting in his constituency on Sunday evening, Saha underlined that he wasn’t an interim arrangement till the state elections next year.
“I have not been made the chief minister for just three months, six months or seven months... I will be the face of the BJP in next year’s crucial assembly elections. I know what is what,” news agency PTI quoted Manik Saha as saying, effectively ruling out the possibility of Biplab Deb’s return.
BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya brushed aside speculation around Deb’s role. “Our former chief minister will start his campaign for the by-polls soon. We are yet to decide about our party chief. But our present chief minister will hold the president’s post till then,” he said.
Experts said it appeared likely that the party will unveil its new team for the 2023 elections after the by-polls to the four assembly segments so that there is enough time to take counter-measures.
Before he fell in line, Tripura minister Ramprasad Paul did create some embarrassing moments for the BJP last month when he shouted at the party’s senior leaders and even threw a chair to protest Manik Saha’s elevation.
To be sure, it was under Biplab Deb’s term as BJP’s Tripura chief that the BJP succeeded in ending the communist party’s rule in the state. Deb was rewarded as well and was appointed chief minister in 2018. He was told to step down after the BJP assessment indicated the party may have to face a huge anti-incumbency if he continues to be the government’s face into the 2023 elections.
