Tag: Biplab Kumar Deb

  • Former Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb elected to Rajya Sabha 

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: Former Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Thursday won the byelection to the state’s lone Rajya Sabha seat, a poll official said here.

    Deb, who has been recently made the BJP in-charge of Haryana, polled 43 votes- 36 of the saffron party and seven of its ally, the IPFT, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Kiran Gitte said.

    All 15 CPI(M) legislators in the state cast their votes in favour of their nominee Bhanu Lal Saha, the former finance minister.

    Interestingly, Congress’s lone MLA Sudip Roy Barman abstained from voting.

    State Congress president Birajit Sinha told PTI, “Since we fielded no candidate, the party had requested Barman to skip the voting process.

    ” The seat had fallen vacant as Manik Saha, on being made the chief minister, resigned to contest an Assembly bypoll.

    Taking to social media, Deb expressed his gratitude to the legislators of the BJP and the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) for electing him as Rajya Sabha MP from the state.

    He also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for giving him an opportunity to represent Tripura in the Upper House of Parliament.

    “With the blessings of Mata Tripurasundari, I will continue to serve the beloved people of Tripura till my last breath,” the former CM said in a Facebook post.

    AGARTALA: Former Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Thursday won the byelection to the state’s lone Rajya Sabha seat, a poll official said here.

    Deb, who has been recently made the BJP in-charge of Haryana, polled 43 votes- 36 of the saffron party and seven of its ally, the IPFT, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Kiran Gitte said.

    All 15 CPI(M) legislators in the state cast their votes in favour of their nominee Bhanu Lal Saha, the former finance minister.

    Interestingly, Congress’s lone MLA Sudip Roy Barman abstained from voting.

    State Congress president Birajit Sinha told PTI, “Since we fielded no candidate, the party had requested Barman to skip the voting process.

    ” The seat had fallen vacant as Manik Saha, on being made the chief minister, resigned to contest an Assembly bypoll.

    Taking to social media, Deb expressed his gratitude to the legislators of the BJP and the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) for electing him as Rajya Sabha MP from the state.

    He also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for giving him an opportunity to represent Tripura in the Upper House of Parliament.

    “With the blessings of Mata Tripurasundari, I will continue to serve the beloved people of Tripura till my last breath,” the former CM said in a Facebook post.

  • Tripura minister wades into controversy, compares Biplab Deb with Vivekananda

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: Tripura’s Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath, found himself in the midst of a controversy when he equated Swami Vivekananda with former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb.

    Nath who has earlier courted controversy with remarks over organ harvesting, while stating that great leaders like Subhas Bose, poet laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi were born in the country, also termed it “lucky” that Deb was born in Tripura.

    “Those who were at the helm of the state affairs had failed us to dare dream. The only person who taught us to dream is Biplab (Kumar) Deb and many of (his) dreams he has fulfilled”, he said at a function in Kamalpur Town Hall in Dhalai district on Friday.

    “Sometimes some great leaders were born in our country and in the world like Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Kabriguru Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda and Einstein. In every place every (great) individual isn’t born”, he said, adding that “we are lucky enough that a person like Biplab Deb was born in our state.”

    “The way Swamiji taught us to dream and fulfill dreams, Biplab Deb also did it by taking several steps and implemented them,” the minister claimed.

    “People who have little knowledge about the country’s culture, tradition and etiquette are running the state of affairs. The way he (Nath) equated the former CM Biplab Deb with some of the country’s great sons, amounts to showing disrespect,” Trinamool Congress state president Subal Bhowmik told PTI.

    On being asked about the party’s stand on the Education Minister’s statement, BJP chief spokesperson, Subrata Chakaborty on Saturday replied, “I have not seen the video footage. More so, it was his personal observation to which the party has nothing to say”.

  • Eleven MLAs in Tripura to take oath as ministers on Monday

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: Altogether eleven MLAs – nine from the BJP and two from the IPFT – will take oath as the cabinet ministers of Tripura on Monday.

    All the ministers of the Biplab Kumar Deb cabinet, barring Mevar Kumar Jamatia of IPFT, found a place in the new cabinet, an official said.

    Notably, a rift between Jamatia, the minister for Tribal Welfare in the Biplab Kumar Deb government, and Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura supremo NC Debbarma came to the fore recently.

    Governor SN Arya will administer the oath of office and secrecy to the cabinet ministers at a programme in Raj Bhavan in the presence of Chief Minister Manik Saha, former chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb and other dignitaries.

    “Jishnu Dev Varma, NC Debbarma (IPFT), Ratan Lal Nath, Pranajit Singha Roy, Manoj Kanti Deb, Santana Chakma, Ram Prasad Paul, Bhagaban Das, Sushanta Chowdhury, Rampada Jamatia and Prem Kumar Reang (IPFT) will take oath as the cabinet ministers of the state tomorrow,” said the new CM in a letter to the governor on Sunday night.

    Saha was sworn in as the chief minister of Tripura during the day.

    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.

    Rampada Jamatia, a veteran tribal leader of the BJP, was included in the list of cabinet ministers.

    IPFT MLA Prem Kumar Reang has also been inducted into the new cabinet.

  • Will prioritise completing unfinished work of Biplab Deb: New Tripura CM

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: New Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Sunday said that his government will prioritise completing the unfinished work of his predecessor Biplab Kumar Deb.

    Saha, who assumed charge as the chief minister during the day, said his administration will leave no stone unturned in reaching out to the last person with benefits of the welfare schemes announced both by the Centre and the state.

    Asserting that he has good relations with Deb, Saha claimed that he came to know that he would be the next chief minister at 4 PM on Saturday.

    “I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president J P Nadda and Deb for handing over the baton to me. It is a big responsibility and I will discharge my duties with utmost care,” Saha said in his maiden media interaction after becoming the chief minister.

    Narrating his journey in the saffron party, he said, “I had joined the BJP in 2016 and started work as ‘Prestha Pramukh’ and worked as in-charge of booth management committee and state-level membership drive.

    I was given the target to achieve 3 lakh membership and I inducted double the number of people into the party,” he said.

    Saha said he has completed whatever work was assigned to him and since 2020, when he became the party state president, he has strengthened the organisation in the grassroots level.

    “I guess the party leadership was happy with my performance,” the dentist-turned-politician said.

    Asserting that the law and order in the state is “good enough”, he said it would be maintained strictly.

    Responding to a query about unrest at a BJP legislature party meeting at the chief minister’s official residence on Sunday, Saha said, “BJP is like a family and such things happen in every family. It will be sorted out.”

    On asked about the Left Front boycotting his swearing-in ceremony held earlier during the day, Saha said, “I had personally called up opposition leader Manik Sarkar inviting him to the programme as we share good personal relations. He said the party has decided to boycott it and he couldn’t go against it.”

    Asked about his cabinet, Saha said it will be declared soon, without giving any further details.

  • New Tripura CM’s induction: Another brand renewal exercise by BJP ahead of state polls?

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: The move to bring in an ageing dental surgeon Dr Manik Saha as chief minister, replacing the younger Biplab Kumar Deb, is being seen by many here as a `brand renewal exercise’ in this strategic, gateway state in the North East.

    Saha, a maxillofacial surgeon, who passed out from King George Medical College of Lucknow was a member of the opposition Congress before he joined BJP in 2016 and became the President of BJP’s Tripura unit in 2020 after Deb quit that post.

    A former badminton player of repute in the state, Saha is also the President of Tripura Cricket Association.

    However, his importance to BJP stems from his clean image and his track record which includes crafting BJP’s victory in all thirteen civic bodies in the polls held in November 2021 in Tripura at a time when TMC was engaged in a turf war with the saffron party.

    Sources said the move comes after an analysis sent by the RSS to BJP’s central leadership indicated there was a need for a change of guard in the party and government.

    Highly placed sources in the ruling party said the move was required for “immediate strengthening of the party” when the organization was not in good shape ahead of elections to the state assembly due within the next 8-9 months.

    Party insiders said the situation was unravelling at the ground level workers as a section of young workers, dubbed the ‘bike gang’, were engaged acts of high-handedness, “which was tarnishing the image of the party”.

    Senior leaders were repeatedly dispatching letters to the central leadership on the issue.

    However, what was really was giving a nightmare to the party was the sudden rise of the Tripura Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance or TIPRA Motha, a regional political party led by the royal scion Pradyot Kishore Debbarma, seeking a separate state for the indigenous people of Tripura.

    The party swept the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) elections held in April last year, winning 18 of the 28 seats over the ‘Greater Tipraland’ demand in a direct contest with the ruling BJP-IPFT alliance.

    The statehood demand may affect results in many assembly seats, where tribals hold considerable clout electorally.

    The TIPRA Motha had completely polarized the state’s politics by raising the demand for separate tribal state and triggered tensions in some mixed pockets of the state, where the tribals account for a third of the population.

    Party sources said that the BJP is not in a position to counter the rise of TIPRA Motha in tribal dominated areas and the tribal party would sweep in the tribal areas in the next elections.

    Moreover, the tribal party has threatened to field candidates in at least 25 general seats out of the total forty general seats.

    With tribals accounting for a significant section of the votes in these seats, it would mean Debbarma’s support could well hold the key to the next elections.

    BJP’s tribal ally, the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), could not secure a single seat in the last tribal council elections and moreover it recently suffered a vertical split and was divided under the leadership of two incumbent ministers.

    Under the circumstances, the saffron party decided to strengthen its party organizationally and go in for a rejig of leadership in its tribal wing, Janajati Morcha.

    Whether the amiable Saha will be able to tackle the diverse issues left behind by his predecessor and steer BJP to a clear victory or whether the rejuvenated Left or the incoming TMC in collaboration with the young royal’s party will be able to snatch a win is of course something which only time will tell.

  • Trouble for Biplab Kumar Deb? Two Tripura BJP MLAs resign, hit out at CM

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: BJP MLAs Sudip Roy Barman and Asish Saha on Monday resigned from the Tripura assembly, and also gave up the membership of their party.

    Roy Barman and Saha met Speaker Ratan Chakraborty and handed over their resignation letters in the morning.

    “Roy Barman and Saha called on me and submitted their resignation letters. I have asked the Secretary of Tripura Legislative Assembly to examine the resignation letters. I will accept their resignations only if their letters are as per the parameters laid down in the Business of Conduct of the assembly,” Chakraborty said.

    Roy Barman told reporters at the assembly that they will travel to New Delhi and finalise the future course of action amid speculation that they might join the Congress on Tuesday.

    “I am relieved after resigning because the BJP-led government has miserably failed to live up to the expectations. Democracy has been throttled in Tripura and no one is allowed to speak,” said Roy Barman, the former health minister and a known critic of Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb.

    “A ‘mukhia’ (headman) and some officers are running an autocratic government in Tripura where no one is there to hear the voice of the people. Ministers are not allowed to discharge their duties independently. We will bulldoze the conspiracy to hijack democracy,” he said Roy Barman claimed the BJP-led government in the state will be reduced to minority before the next assembly elections as many MLAs are planning to leave the party “out of frustration”.

    Asked whether they will return to the Congress, he said, “Let’s see what happens in Delhi.”

    Saha, the other BJP MLA, said they have also sent letters to BJP state president Manik Saha, resigning from the primary membership of the party.

    “We will be back in Tripura on February 12,” he said.

    The ruling BJP in Tripura rubbished any threat to the Biplab Kumar Deb government, stating that the party’s leadership was well aware of the development in advance.

    “Their recent activities do not suit the party. We tried to sort out the differences with the two MLAs but they were not convinced with our efforts. As politicians, they have the right to join or leave a party. We are keeping a close watch and will do the needful,” the BJP state president said.

    Dismissing the possibility of exodus of MLAs as claimed by Roy Barman, Saha said the party’s leadership would meet soon to review the political scenario in the aftermath of the resignations of the two legislators.

    The BJP’s tally went down to 33 in the 60-member assembly with the resignation of the two MLAs.

    While BJP ally IPFT has eight MLAs, the opposition Left Front’s tally stands at 15.

    Earlier, BJP MLA Asish Das was declared disqualified by the speaker on the ground of “misconduct”, while CPI(M) MLA Ramendra Chandra Debnath of Yubarajnagar died on February 2.

  • COVID: CM Biplab Deb rules out the possibility of day curfew in Tripura

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Sunday ruled out the possibility of imposing day curfew as of now to contain the spread of COVID-19 even when the overall positivity rate is nearly 13 per cent in the state and 28.23 per cent in Agartala.

    However, the night curfew would continue, Deb said.

    “There is no immediate plan to impose day curfew though the rate of positivity is quite high. The government is monitoring the situation and is trying to ensure that normal life and economic growth are not hindered,” the chief minister, who also holds the health portfolio, told reporters here.

    He also appealed to people to maintain COVID-appropriate behaviour like wearing face masks, using hand sanitizers, and maintaining social distancing.

    “There is nothing to panic. We can recover in home isolation. In case of any serious symptoms, people should consult health officials, doctors, ASHA workers, or hospitals. Our health infrastructure is good and we will be able to tackle the third wave of the COVID-19,” Deb said.

    Tripura recorded 546 new coronavirus infections and three fatalities in the last 24 hours, health officials said on Sunday.

    Since the outbreak of COVID-19, 90,935 people have tested positive for COVID-19 and 835 patients have succumbed to the infection in the border state.

  • Do not fear contempt of court, work for people: Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb tells officials

    By ANI

    AGARTALA: Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb has sparked a controversy after he asked civil service officials and executives to work for the people without “worrying about contempt of court” as the government is not run by the court.

    Addressing the 26th biennial conference of the Tripura Civil Service Officers’ Association in Agartala on Friday, Deb said: “We are a ‘by the people government’ and not by the court government. The court is for the people and people are not for the court.”

    He also mentioned that despite repeated caution by his former Chief Secretary on the ground of contempt of court, his Cabinet took the decision for the ad hoc promotion of the government officials, which is a long-pending issue in the Supreme Court.

    “Even the Chief Secretary used to say this cannot happen. But I was firm that it is a Cabinet decision and has to happen. How long can I keep them sitting? It was injustice toward those who go for retirement without getting their due promotion. They feared it would be contempt of the court as if contempt of the court is like a tiger. I am a tiger, the person who runs the government and is the main person in the party in power and possesses the total power,” the CM said.

    Deb also quoted former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee that the Court is for implementation of the laws which are made by the Legislature.

    He mentioned that the state’s previous Chief Secretary was disposed of his duties because he feared “contempt of court”.

    “I have been threatened that it will be contempt of the court. The previous Chief Secretary was telling me that he will be jailed under contempt of court and so I have given him farewell and let him go.”

    Reacting to the comments, Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday uploaded a video clip of Deb’s speech on Twitter, claiming that Deb mocked judiciary and democracy as well.

    “@BjpBiplab is a DISGRACE to the entire nation! He shamelessly mocks Democracy, MOCKS the JUDICIARY and seemingly gets away with it! Will the SUPREME COURT take cognizance of his comments that reflect such grave disrespect?” Banerjee tweeted on Sunday. 

  • Violent political behavior will not be tolerated: Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb warns CPI-M

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: Amidst continuing clashes in Tripura between the ruling BJP and the main opposition CPI-M, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb Friday said that the Left party is trying to plunge the state into lawlessness and such “political behavior will not be tolerated by the people”.

    The clashes between the two rival parties had broken out in different parts of the northeastern state on Monday.

    Reports of fresh clashes between BJP and CPI-M are still coming in, officials said.

    “For past 3 years, Tripura has seen all round peace & prosperity with radical improvements in law & order situation. Political opposition led by CPM have (sic) been rattled by this. In their desperation to regain lost political ground, they attempted to plunge Tripura into lawlessness,” Deb tweeted.

    “I wish to remind the CPM that in our new Tripura such violent political behaviour will not be tolerated by its people. It will be my utmost endeavour to identify and punish each miscreant as per law. Peace is and will be a non-negotiable tenet of BJP-led government,” he said.

    Left Front convener and CPI-M central committee member Bijan Dhar said during the day that at least 26 party offices were attacked and vandalised since Thursday midnight.

    The houses of at least 100 Left party activists and leaders were set on fire in the state and at least 50 activists were injured.

    “An unprecedented terror was let lose by goons sheltered by the BJP. Democracy has been slaughtered and people’s voices are choked. We have no other alternative way to resist this terror except democratic movement “, he told reporters.

    The clashes started on Monday when former chief minister Manik Sarkar was allegedly prevented from proceeding to Dhanpur in Sepahijala district by BJP workers.

    Six activists of the saffron party and one from CPI-M were injured in the clashes.

    Trouble had erupted again on Wednesday at Udaipur town in Gomati district of Tripura after Democratic Youth Federation of India, CPI-M’s youth wing, took out a procession and a few activists from it allegedly attacked a BJP activist who was passing by, injuring him seriously.

    Police said a group of BJP activists who were present nearby, retaliated by attacking the DYFI procession.

    Police said three persons were injured but their political affiliation is yet to be known.

    A large contingent of police was deployed to disperse the mob and maintain peace after the Udaipur clash, officials said.

    Police said the BJP activist injured in the Udaipur clash is in a critical condition and is still under treatrment.

    He was shifted to G.B Pant hospital here.

    According to sources, CPI-M party offices in Agartala, Bishalgarh and Kathalia, were vandalized and set on fire after the Udaipur clash.

    Officials said a group of unidentified miscreants vandalized CPI(M)’s Udaipur party office, while a vehicle belonging to former Left Front Minister Ratan Bhowmick was set ablaze.

    Agriculture Minister Pranajit Singha Roy rushed to the spot soon after the clash and took stock of the situation.

    He had later told the media that DYFI had taken out the procession without seeking prior permission from police.

    When police tried to stop it, the DYFI activists indulged in violence and injured several people.

    BJP activist Mofiz Miah, who was passing by, was attacked and critically injured.

    Besides, a hotel was vandalized and some houses were ransacked, Singha Roy said.

    The government would take legal action against those involved in the violence, he added.

    Union Minister Pratima Bhowmik led a protest march at Dhanpur in Sonamura sub-division on Wednesday in protest against Monday’s violence. BJP sadar district unit too held a protest rally in the capital city of Agartala on Wednesday.

    The CPI (M) state party office at Melarmath was set on fire and a newspaper office near the main road was also vandalized.

  • Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb launches helpline to address citizens’ grievances

    By PTI

    AGARTALA: Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Monday launched a helpline to receive and fast track addressal of citizens’ grievances.

    The helpline, which has code number 1905, is a dedicated call center where citizens will be able to call to record their grievances.

    The helpline will then refer it to the concerned departments through integrated task monitoring system, officials said.

    The departmental nodal officer will receive citizen’s grievance tasks from the CM helpline and he will take necessary action to address them or transfer it to field level officers for its addressal in a time bound manner, they said.

    After launching the helpline, Deb said in the social media “This helpline will connect me directly with the people of Tripura and I am sure I will be just a call away from solving all their problems.

    ” Explaining the modus operandi, the officials said that Once the citizen’s grievance has been addressed it will be updated in the CM Helpline and the supervisor will call up the person and inform him/her of the action taken by the department.

    If the person is satisfied with the action the call will be closed, but if he/she is not the grievance will be resent to the department concerned for necessary action within the stipulated time.

    The citizen grievance redressal through helpline will be regularly monitored by the chief minister’s office.

    Deb in his address after the inauguration said the government had earlier launched the Jagaran Tripura app through which citizens can get information about various schemes of the Centre and the state.

    193 schemes are on board of this app, he said.

    Deb said under the CM Yuva Communication scheme, the government gave 7,274 mobile phones to final year of graduation students in 2020.

    The number of mobile phones to be given away will increase this year.

    The CM Helpline is integrated with the emergency response support system (ERSS) of the police department.

    In case of any emergency call, the CM Helpline will transfer the call immediately to the ERSS and will follow it up, the officials said.

    The citizens will be able to contact the CM Helpline from 8 AM to 8 PM on all working days.

    It will be later upgraded to a 24X7 toll free helpline number based on the people’s response.

    Dedicated manpower would be hired for smooth operation of the helpline, they said.

    The helpline will also provide citizens the opportunity to ask questions, to collect information, submit suggestions and feedback for the government to improve and receive and respond to latest announcements of the Government.

    The helpline will also provide information regarding different schemes and new initiatives of the state government.