New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party leader Manik Saha took oath as the Chief Minister of Tripura today for the second consecutive term in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national President JP Nadda and other dignitaries.
The 70-year-old leader has been administered the oath as the 12th chief minister by Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya at a function held at the Swami Vivekananda Maidan in Agartala.
Earlier on Friday, outgoing Chief Minister Manik Saha submitted his resignation to Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya. The new government's oath-taking ceremony will take place in Agartala's Swami Vivekananda Maidan, according to ANI.
Soon after winning the elections, CM Manik Saha said: "I thank PM Modi, home minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda and senior leaders for their faith and confidence. Central govt's beneficiary schemes, state govt's works and party workers' hard work played an important role in the victory."
Until he became the chief minister last year, replacing Biplab Kumar Deb, Saha was a Rajya Sabha MP and the party's state unit president. Manik Saha, an oral and maxillofacial surgery specialist, used to teach at Tripura Medical College in Hapania before entering politics.
On February 16, the 60-seat assembly went to the polls, and the results were announced on March 2. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won an absolute majority and returned to power in the state.
The BJP won 32 seats with a vote share of roughly 39 per cent, according to the Election Commission of India. The Left Front-Congress alliance, however, failed to ebb the saffron wave as it managed to garner just 14 seats. Debutant Tipra Motha Party, led by the scion of the erstwhile Tripura kingdom's royalty, Pradyot Debbarma, bagged 13 seats.
The BJP's alliance partner in Tripura, the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura, managed to get only 1 seat. The lone IPFT winner was Sukla Charan Noatia from the Jolaibari constituency.