11 MLAs in Tripura take oath as cabinet ministers at Raj Bhawan

New Delhi, May 16: Altogether eleven MLAs - nine from the BJP and two from the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) party took oath as the cabinet ministers of Tripura on Monday.

All the ministers of the Biplab Kumar Deb cabinet, barring Mevar Kumar Jamatia of IPFT, found a place in the new cabinet, an official said. Notably, a rift between Jamatia, the minister for Tribal Welfare in the Biplab Kumar Deb government, and Indigenous People's Front of Tripura supremo NC Debbarma came to the fore recently.

Governor SN Arya will administer the oath of office and secrecy to the cabinet ministers at a programme in Raj Bhavan in the presence of Chief Minister Manik Saha, former chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb and other dignitaries.

"Jishnu Dev Varma, NC Debbarma (IPFT), Ratan Lal Nath, Pranajit Singha Roy, Manoj Kanti Deb, Santana Chakma, Ram Prasad Paul, Bhagaban Das, Sushanta Chowdhury, Rampada Jamatia and Prem Kumar Reang (IPFT) will take oath as the cabinet ministers of the state tomorrow," said the new CM in a letter to the governor on Sunday night.

Saha was sworn in as the chief minister of Tripura during the day.

Former chief minister Biplab Deb, whose sudden resignation on Saturday evening got Saha the top job, was present at the ceremony along with BJP MLAs and state ministers.

Rampada Jamatia, a veteran tribal leader of the BJP, was included in the list of cabinet ministers.

IPFT MLA Prem Kumar Reang has also been inducted into the new cabinet.