Tripura LIVE: Manik Saha Sworn-in as CM for 2nd Term; Tipra Motha Chief Meets Shah Amid Buzz Over Possible Alliance

Tipra Motha chief Pradyut Manikya on Wednesday met Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The meeting came amid buzz that Tipra Motha may join the newly formed BJP-led government in the state.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday congratulated Manik Shah as he took oath as Tripura CM.

The Tipra Motha that turned down BJP’s offer to join the Tripura govt without a ‘constitutional solution’, will again meet BJP’s top leadership on Wednesday. Party Chief Pradyot shared a cryptic tweet saying ‘wait and watch’, which created a buzz among political circle that he may join the government after next round of talks.

BJP leader Manik Saha took oath as chief minister of the sensitive border state of Tripura for his second term on Wednesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda as well as Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma were among the dignitaries present on the occasion. READ MORE

News18 has learnt that Tipra Motha chief Pradyut Manikya will be meeting BJP top leadership, including Amit Shah, in Tripura.

This is the second meeting that the Tipra Motha chief will have with BJP top leadership. Sources are saying that something interesting might come up. There is a buzz over conditional support to BJP from outside.

Tipra Motha Chief Pradyot Manikya Debbarman extended wishes to CM Manik Shah for his second term.

Seventy-year-old BJP leader Manik Saha on Wednesday took oath as chief minister of the sensitive border state of Tripura. Eight more ministers, including Ratan Lal Nath, Pranajit Singha Roy, Santana Chakma, Tinku Roy and Bikash Debbarma were also sworn in by Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda as well as Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma were among the dignitaries present on the occasion.

In all, eight ministers from the BJP and one from its ally IPFT were inducted into the cabinet. Of these, five were new faces, while four ministers who were in the earlier cabinet found a place in the new line-up.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday left for Tripura where he is scheduled to attend the oath-taking ceremony of the Manik Saha-led BJP government.

PM Modi was accorded a warm send-off at the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) Airport in Guwahati by Assam Governor Gulab Chand Kataria, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his cabinet colleagues along with senior officials of the state government.

Taking to Twitter, Sarma said, “We’ve been blessed by the august presence of Hon PM Shri @narendramodi in Assam. We are forever grateful for his margdarshan. You made our #Holi very special. Great privilege to join him at the LGBI Airport Guwahati as Pradhan Mantri ji embarked on his next journey to Tripura.” PM Modi had on Tuesday attended the swearing-in ceremonies of the NPP-led Meghalaya and Nagaland governments.

Manik Saha, a dentist-turned-politician who steered the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to come to power in Tripura for a consecutive term, is all set to become the Chief Minister of the northeast state for the second time.Prior to becoming the Chief Minister, Saha was a Rajya Sabha MP and chief of the party in the state.

The change of guard took place last year when Saha replaced Biplab Kumar Deb to steer the party in the Assembly polls amid a multi-cornered contest in the northeast state.

Saha, a dental surgeon, joined the BJP in 2016 after quitting Congress. He was made party chief in 2020 and elected to Rajya Sabha in March 2022. After BJP’s victory in the recently-held Tripura Assembly polls, Manik Saha will take oath as the Chief Minister of the northeast state for the second time on Wednesday.

“Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma talked to me. I got calls from two-three others also with an invitation to join the government. But I clearly told them that Tipra Motha will not join the government without a Constitutional solution for the Tiprasas,” Pradyot Deb Barma, the chief of Tipra Motha said on Tuesday.

“If we sit in the government without a Constitutional solution and we get two-three ministerial berths, it will be similar to what IPFT had done in 2018. That will be an injustice to our people, who have elected 13 MLAs with the hope of a Constitutional solution,” he said.

In the elections, the BJP’s vote share was 39 per cent down from 43.59 per cent in 2018 polls. Its seat strength has also come down to 32 from 36 in the 60-member Assembly.

The CPI(M)’s vote share has also come down from 42.70 per cent to 24 per cent while the Congress has improved its vote share from 1.41 per cent to 8.56 per cent.

The Tipra Motha has polled around 20 per cent votes and won 13 seats in the tribal as well as mixed populated areas at the cost of the Left Front.

The Left Front said the Tripura Assembly election result was “unexpected” and claimed that the vote division among the anti-BJP parties helped the saffron party to win the polls with less number of seats.

The Left Front also claimed that around 60 per cent of the people’s mandate was against the BJP in the recently concluded elections as the BJP’s vote share in the election was 39 per cent.

“If one goes by the five-year misrule and people’s expression, the result is not corroborative. Around 60 per cent mandate against the BJP reflects the people’s distrust of a particular party”, said Left Front convenor Narayan Kar in a press release on Friday.

The Tipra Motha on Sunday said that it was ready to sit with the BJP for a “face-to-face meeting” to find a “constitutional solution” to Tiprasa people’s problems, a day after Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that the party’s concerns should be addressed through dialogue.

Taking to Facebook, former royal scion Pradyot Manikya Debbarman, who helms the regional outfit, also gave assurance that his party will not let down people who had voted for him.

“If we are respectfully invited for talks on constitutional rights – economic, political, language — we will participate. We are sons of the soil… We are ready for talks to find a constitutional solution to the problems of indigenous people. And, the talks cannot be about ministerial posts or individual benefits,” he said in a video posted on the networking platform.

At least eight people were injured in post-poll violence in Tripura, police said on Saturday. Twenty people have been arrested in connection with the post-poll violence incidents in the state, the police said.

Chief Minister Manik Saha who visited the injured persons at GBP hospital on Friday asked the police to take stern action against the miscreants in order to maintain peace and tranquility. READ MORE

Expressing concern over the recent cases of post-poll attacks in Tripura, the CPI(M) on Sunday urged Chief Secretary J K Sinha to convene an all-party meeting to discuss the matter and find ways to end the violence. Chief Minister Manik Saha had recently issued direction to the police to take stringent action against those found involved in political clashes.

“Today, we have met the chief secretary and handed over a memorandum, giving details of the scale of post-poll attacks mounted on the CPI(M) leaders and workers since March 2. As many as 658 incidents have been reported to us till the date,” said CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury, addressing a press conference.