Bharatiya Janata Party Tripura Chief and Rajya Sabha MP Manik Saha has been elected as the new Chief Minister of the state after Biplab Deb stepped down from the post on Saturday afternoon, just a year ahead of the state elections. 

Who is Manik Saha?

Manik Saha is a dentist by profession and used to teach in Tripura Medical College before he joined mainstream politics. He quit Congress and joined the BJP in 2016. He was made the party’s state president in 2020 and went on to win the lone Rajya Sabha seat from the state earlier this year. Saha is also the president of the Tripura Cricket Association. 

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On Saturday, he was elected as the new CM of Tripura and will lead the party’s fight to retain the state in the upcoming assembly elections.

“Congratulations to Shri @DrManikSaha2 on being elected the leader of BJP Legislative Party. I am sure with the guidance of honourable Prime Minister @narendramodi and under your leadership, Tripura will scale new heights in terms of development,” union minister Bhupender Yadav tweeted.

Biplab Deb too congratulated Saha, writing, “Congratulations and best wishes to @DrManikSaha2 ji on being elected as the legislature party leader. I believe under PM Shri @narendramodi Ji’s vision and leadership Tripura will prosper.”

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Saha was elected at a meeting at the chief minister’s official residence soon after Deb tendered his resignation to Governor SN Arya.

As Deb proposed the 69-year-old Saha’s name in the meeting, minister Ram Prasad Paul protested, which reportedly led to a scuffle among MLAs.Paul wanted deputy chief minister Jishnu Dev Varma as the next chief minister of the state.