There's no political challenge for us: Tripura's new CM Saha after taking oath

New Delhi, May 15: BJP state president Manik Saha took oath as the Chief Minister of Tripura on Sunday.

Governor SN Arya administered the oath to Saha, a Rajya Sabha MP, at the Raj Bhavan. 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.

Union minister Pratima Bhowmick also attended the swearing-in programme. Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma and minister Ram Prasad Paul, who broke chairs during the BJP's legislative party meeting on Saturday protesting Saha's appointment as the chief minister, arrived at the Raj Bhavan moments after the swearing-in ceremony ended.

After taking oath, the new CM said, "We will move forward with the development issue of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP. We'll also enhance law and order in the state along with resolving the issues of the people of Tripura. There's no political challenge for us."

The opposition CPI(M) MLAs boycotted the programme, alleging "fascist-style violence" in the state under the BJP's rule.

In an apparent effort to ward off anti-incumbency and stem any disgruntlement within its ranks in Tripura, the BJP on Saturday adopted its now successfully tested strategy of going with a new face in the state assembly polls. The BJP has changed five chief ministers since 2019, including in Gujarat and Karnataka.

In September last year, the BJP had changed Vijay Rupani with Bhupender Patel, who hailed from a numerically significant Patel community, as Gujarat's chief minister. While changing the chief minister in Karnataka, the saffron party replaced Lingayat stalwart BS Yediyurappa as Karnataka CM with another Lingayat leader Basavaraj S Bommai.

In Uttarakhand, it replaced two Thakur chief ministers with another Thakur leader. Assam also saw the BJP replacing its chief minister of five years Sarbananda Sonowal with Himanta Biswa Sarma following the assembly elections last year.

However, this was considered more a case of the party rewarding Sarma than it taking any dim view of his predecessor, who was later made a Cabinet minister in the Modi government.
Saha is also the fourth former Congress leader from the Northeast to become chief minister in the region after joining the BJP, a clear signal that a leader's electoral value is of paramount importance for the party.