Biplab Deb Touches Manik Sarkar's Feet at Swearing-in, Counts on His Experience to Develop Tripura

Agartala: At his swearing-in on Friday, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb touched the feet of Manik Sarkar as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah and several top BJP leaders looked on.

Deb said, “My gesture of touching Manik Sarkar's feet during the swearing-in function was because I respect our tradition and we need the experience of a veteran leader like him to run the show in Tripura.”

Biplab Kumar Deb took oath as the chief minister of the first BJP government in Tripura, ending the 25-year rule of the Left Front, even as PM Modi assured full support for all-round development of the state.

Jishnu Deb Burman of the BJP was sworn in as the deputy chief minister along with seven other ministers.

The Tripura BJP chief also touched upon allies Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) being miffed with the party over berth allocation and said, “We are not here to please the IPFT. That is not my job. My job is to ensure that we take Tripura on the path of development and IPFT leader NC Debbarma also realises that.”

He added, “Right now, we are not thinking of expanding our cabinet. Strength matters on the floor of the Assembly but not when it comes to working for the people.”

IPFT has been given two ministerial berths in the newly-constituted Tripura government.

Governor Tathagata Roy administered the oath of office and secrecy to the ministers at a function at the sprawling Assam Rifles ground in Agartala.

Forty-eight-year-old Biplab Kumar Deb had staked claim before the governor on March 6 to form the government.

The former RSS volunteer also promised to implement the party’s poll promises within 100 days. He said, “We have decided our priority areas. We will set a deadline of 100 days for our team to implement the promises we made before the people of Tripura.”

“We would firmly handle any violence in the name of trade union activities in the state industrial sector… All disruptive activities in the state would be handled firmly; development and positive activities of the government would automatically curb violence,” said Deb.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, senior BJP leaders Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi were present at the swearing-in ceremony, besides Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states - Vijay Rupani (Gujarat), Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Sarbananda Sonowal (Assam), Raghubar Das (Jharkhand).

The alliance had won the Assembly elections with a two-thirds majority in the 60-member House. The BJP had bagged 35 seats and the IPFT eight of the 59 seats that went to polls.