A day after Manik Saha took oath as Tripura’s 11th Chief Minister; Governor SN Arya administered the oath of office to 11 cabinet ministers at Raj Bhavan on Monday.
A total of 11 MLAs were inducted with nine from the BJP and two from the Indigenous People`s Front of Tripura (IPFT).
The new Cabinet includes Jishnu Dev Varma, Ratan Lal Nath, Pranajit Singha Roy, Manoj Kanti Deb, Santana Chakma, Ram Prasad Paul, Bhagaban Das, Sushanta Chowdhury, Rampada Jamatia and IPFT’s NC Debbarma and Prem Kumar Reang.
All the ministers of the Biplab Kumar Deb cabinet, barring Mevar Kumar Jamatia of IPFT, were inducted in the new cabinet.
It may be mentioned here that a rift has erupted between Jamatia, the minister for Tribal Welfare in the Biplab Kumar Deb government, and Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura supremo NC Debbarma.
Rampada Jamatia, a veteran tribal leader of the BJP and IPFT MLA Prem Kumar Reang was included in the list of new cabinet ministers today.
However, Manik Saha was sworn in as the chief minister of Tripura earlier on Sunday. The BJP legislative party meeting elected him as the legislature party leader on Saturday in the presence of the Central observers after Biplab Kumar Deb submitted his resignation, amid high drama.
Notably, the rejig in the Tripura Cabinet has come at a time when the state is likely to witness Assembly polls in March next year.
