Is it time for Deodhar to move out of Tripura?

Sources said that Deodhar wants to have his say in Tripura as party in-charge of the state while chief minister wants to be in total command of the administration.

Amid reports of differences between Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in-charge of the party of the state cropping up, the party leadership may shift Sunil Deodhar to somewhere else for the smooth functioning of the state government. It is Deodhar who is actually credited with the demolition of a strong Left citadel.

Sources familiar with the matter informed One India that the central leadership has given an indication of shifting Deodhar to somewhere else. The BJP leadership does not want any wrong signal to go to people about infighting in the party. So it has decided to move him from the northeastern state.

Another source said that actually the news about differences between the CM and Deodhar is being spread by the Left Front people in the state to cause confusion in the governance. However, some people are looking at the entire development as tussle of power. Sources said that Deodhar wants to have his say in Tripura as party in-charge of the state while chief minister wants to be in total command of the administration. This is the real issue of contention between the two leaders and the problem lies here.

Deodhar denied any tug of war between him and the CM over the administrative control who had worked for more than two years tirelessly in the state for ouster of the Left government. Actually, speculation has been rife for long that he may be shifted to West Bengal where Assembly elections are due in May 2021, but before that General elections will happen in 2019. So preparations must start by now.

Sources said that track record of Deodhar has been very good as he had successfully handled the Prime Minister's elections in Varanasi and Tripura polls as well. So party might entrust him with the responsibility of one of the difficult states for the BJP. So the BJP leadership feels if it has to do something in West Bengal, it will have to start as soon as possible. Sources said that there is another possibility that he might be given additional responsibility of any other election-bound state to keep him away from Tripura for all practical purposes.