Agartala May 15 : Manik Saha, Tripura BJP chief and Rajya Sabha MP, took oath as the new chief minister of the state at Raj Bhawan in Agartala on Sunday, a day after Biplab Kumar Deb resigned from the post.
A professor of dental surgery, Saha is expected to steer the party to victory in the assembly polls, to be held next year, amid a multi-cornered contest in the northeastern state where Trinamool Congress is also seeking to emerge as a key player.
The 69-year-old Saha was named as the leader of the BJP legislature party hours after the resignation of Deb.
The sudden political development came as a surprise to the people of the state.
Dr Saha joined BJP in 2016 after quitting Congress. He was made party chief in 2020 and elected to Rajya Sabha in March this year.
After submitting his resignation to Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya, Deb said he had wholeheartedly served the people of the state.
Deb had taken oath as the first CM of Tripura in 2018, ending the 25-year-rule of the Communist Party of India in the state.