Lok Sabha Polls 2024 | Face-off: Biplab Kumar Deb vs Asish Kumar Saha

The two are contesting from Tripura West.

From being BJP's Hindutva face in Tripura since 2017, Biplab Kumar Deb was credited for wresting power from the 25-year-old left parties in 2018 and giving BJP its first government. Biplab became the CM but soon became a headache for the party for his frequent controversial statements and allegations of not being able to take other leaders on board.

Deb resigned as CM and was replaced by senior leader Manik Saha in June 2022, months before the Assembly elections in February 2023. Biplab, now 53, was later elected as Rajya Sabha member.

The party, however, decided to field him in the Tripura West Lok Sabha constituency replacing Union Minister of State, Pratima Bhaumik. Deb, who is focusing more on brand Narendra Modi and the works for the Northeast, enjoys an edge this time as BJP has tied up with Tipra Motha, a regional party representing the tribals.

The president of Tripura unit of Congress, Asish Kumar Saha, is among the few strong Congress leaders, who are still considered as someone who can turn the tide against BJP and its allies.

Saha, who served as MLA between 2009 and 2022, had joined Trinamool Congress in 2016 but switched to BJP ahead of Assembly elections in 2023.

He, however, rejoined Congress in 2022. Saha, now 64, was made the party's state unit president in June 2023, soon after the party's debacle in the Assembly elections.

Saha also lost against BJP leader and CM Manik Saha in 2023. Saha, this time, is being backed by the I.N.D.I.A. bloc including the left parties, Congress' arch-rival in Tripura for decades. During campaigns, Saha says people would vote against BJP and its allies as they posed a threat to democracy and the Constitution by dividing people on communal lines.

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