Tripura witnesses change of guard as parties go in for brand renewal ahead of polls

The clamour for a change of guard in Tripura led to Manik Saha becoming the new chief minister replacing Biplab Kumar Deb with less than a year to go for crucial elections to the state assembly.

Deb was asked by the BJP central leadership to resign and Saha, a Rajya Sabha MP and state BJP president, took over as the new CM in May in what some saw as an effort at brand renewal to overcome anti-incumbency.

That attempt seemed to work as the BJP under Saha's leadership won three of the four assembly seats where by-elections were held in the state while the Congress won one.

Saha himself was re-elected in a by-election defeating his nearest Congress rival Ashish Kumar Saha.

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However in a set-back to the ruling party, three influential BJP MLAs - Sudip Roy Barman, Asish Kumar Saha and Dibachandra Hrangkhawal - resigned from the state Assembly and joined the Congress.

Roy Barman later won a by-election on a Congress ticket, giving the grand old party its sole representative in the Tripura Assembly.

Saha now has a tough job to lead the saffron party in the assembly elections which are due in early 2023 with a rejuvenated Congress and CPI(M) set to give the saffron party a tough challenge, possibly with some sort of an electoral understanding.

BJP MLA Burbo Mohan Tripura and two IPFT lawmakers - Dhananjoy Tripura and Mevar Kumar Jamatia too resigned from the state Assembly and joined the Tipra Motha, a regional political party which controls the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).

Brand renewal was attempted by other parties too. Veteran Communist leader Jitendra Chowdhury became the new state CPI(M) secretary in February this year, while Trinamool Congress removed Subal Bhowmik as state party president in August and made Pijush Kanti Biswas the new state chief this December.

On the development front, Tripura witnessed an upsurge in development projects being inaugurated or announced ahead of elections next year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated a newly built terminal building of Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) Airport at Agartala.

To mark the statehood day (January 21), the Union Home Minister Amit Shah rolled out Lakshya 2047, a vision document, which promises to transform the northeastern state.

Shah again visited the state in August and inaugurated the state’s first National Forensic Science University (NFSU), the third such institution after Gujarat and Goa.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi too launched another slew of development projects in Tripura on December 18 including the 'Grih Pravesh' programme for more than two lakh beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban and Rural - schemes.

To woo state government employees ahead of the assembly elections, Chief Minister Saha declared a 12 per cent hike in dearness allowance and dearness relief for government employees and pensioners on December 27 .

President Droupadi Murmu too visited the northeastern state and inaugurated National Law University in October.