Agartala, Aug 31: The BJP led government in Tripura, which came to power in 2018, is likely to conduct its first ever expansion of the Council of Ministers amid a growing ‘subtle dissidence’ against Chief Minister Biplab Deb.
The decision to expand the Cabinet was taken on Monday night after a series of meetings held by BJP top leaders that the BJP high command had sent to Agartala to douse the ‘internal problems’ within the party.
BJP insiders also say that TMC’s attempt to make inroads in Tripura also led to the party high command rushing central leaders to the state to take ‘correct steps’ amid growing buzz in the party on leadership change in Tripura.
Three MLAs, namely, Ramprasad Paul, Bhagaban Das and Sushanta Chowdhury, all of whom are first time legislators, are expected to be sworn in as Ministers in all likelihood. The event might happen as quick as Tuesday evening, party sources said although there is no official confirmation yet.
BJP rushes leaders to Tripura
On Monday, BJP high command rushed a host of party leaders including BJP national secretary Dilip Saikia, BJP North East Zonal Secretary (organization) Ajay Jamwal, the party’s Tripura unit Prabhari Vinod Sonkar and General Secretary (Organization) Phanindranath Sarma on a four-day trip to strengthen the party’s organizational base. They took part in the core committee meeting. Union Minister of State from Tripura, Pratima Bhowmik also arrived here and joined the meeting.
The Chief Minister and other senior leaders also participated in the meeting to discuss important organizational matters.
Three berths in the Tripura Cabinet were vacant from the beginning but the number had increased to four after Health minister Sudip Roy Barman was dropped from the Council of Ministers. However, one birth of the Cabinet would remain vacant even after the three new ministers are inducted.
