Biplab Kumar Deb to be next Tripura chief minister

NEW DELHI: The BJP's Biplab Kumar Deb has been named the new chief minister of Tripura, announced Union minister Nitin Gadkari today.

Deb was unanimously elected leader of the BJP legislature party in the state, and will stake claim to form government in Tripura before Governor Tathagata Roy.

"Jishnu Deb Burman will work with me as the deputy CM of Tripura," said Deb after the announcement.

The decision comes even as the BJP's poll ally, the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura, has demanded that the chief minister be from the tribal community.

In Assembly election results announced Saturday, the BJP routed the CPM, which had been in power in Tripura for as long as 25 years.

Tripura has been on the boil though, as violence continues in several parts of the state following the shock upset of the CPM in Assembly election results + announced Saturday. Section 144 has been imposed in many parts of the state, which means an assembly of more than four people in one place has been declared unlawful.


The CPM alleged that "widespread attacks are being reported on our comrades and party offices" since Saturday, while the BJP alleged that CPM activists, too, "assaulted" 49 of its party supporters, 17 of whom had to be hospitalized.

A statue of Communist revolutionary hero Lenin was yesterday razed by a group pf people, many of them wearing saffron shirts and chanting "Bharat mata ki jai".

So grave is the situation that Union home minister Rajnath Singh this morning phoned governor Tathagata Roy and top police officials asking what steps are being taken to control the violence. Rajnath asked them to ensure peace until the new government assumes office.

"Highest levels of BJP/RSS and governor of Tripura are directly inciting this violence," tweeted the CPM, which was routed in the Assembly elections after 25 years of being in power.

The BJP denied the allegations saying it "does not practice the culture of violence".

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"BJP does not ever practice culture of violence. In places like Tripura, Left parties have chosen to be silent about 11 BJP workers who were killed. Some of those who support Left parties are trying to foist these kind of debates that a statue is removed," said the BJP's Nalin Kohli.