Biplab Deb Resigns: Why BJP's First CM in Tripura Stepped Down Year Before Polls and What Comes Next

With the resignation of Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to change another Chief Minister ahead of Assembly polls.

Biplab Kumar Deb announced on Saturday evening that he has submitted his resignation to Governor SN Arya. Deb had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda in the national capital on Thursday. The Tripura unit of the BJP has been rife with rumours of infighting. The 60-seat Tripura Assembly heads to elections next year.

Replaced by Tripura BJP chief Manik Saha as the Chief Minister, Biplab Deb is likely to be accommodated in the BJP organisation, sources told News18.

Biplab Deb’s resignation comes after similar exits by party Chief Ministers in Uttarakhand, Karnataka and Gujarat.

Sources said Deb’s exit was necessitated after adverse reports received by the BJP’s top leadership about the administration and dissatisfaction in the ranks.

The party’s ally in Tripura, the Indigenous Peoples’ Front of Tripura (IPFT), had also made its reservations about Deb known to the central leadership. The infighting in IPFT over re-constitution of the state committee has shaken up Tripura’s politics a year before elections. Pradyut Kishore Deb Barman of TIPRA Moth, too, is said to be eyeing tribal seats.

Biplab Deb was sworn in as the BJP’s first Chief Minister in Tripura when the party swept to power in 2018, dislodging the CPI(M) government which had ruled the state for over two decades.

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