Biplab Deb to be sworn-in as Tripura CM on March 9

Agartala: Tripura BJP president Biplab Deb will be sworn in as the chief minister of the state on March 9 and party colleague Jishnu Kumar Debbarma as his deputy.

Deb met Governor Tathagata Roy and staked claim to form the government.

The swearing-in of the new ministers would take place on March 9 in the Assam Rifles Maidan, he said.

Earlier in the day, 48-year-old Deb was unanimously elected the leader of BJP legislature party, Union minister Nitin Gadkari, who was present in the meeting as the central observer, said.

Gadkari also told newsmen that Debbarma, a prominent tribal leader and a member of Tripura's royal family, would be the deputy chief minister.

Debbarma is yet to be elected as an MLA as the polling in his Charilam ST constituency was postponed due to the death of the CPI(M) candidate. The election would now be held on March 12.

Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram also joined the meeting attended by 35 newly-elected BJP MLAs.

Deb said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and chief ministers of all the BJP-ruled states would be invited to the swearing-in ceremony.

Later, a combined meeting of BJP and its ally the Indigenous People's front of Tripura (IPFT) was held in which the IPFT endorsed the decision of the BJP legislature party.

The IPFT had earlier demanded that the chief minister should be from the tribal community.

IPFT president N C Debbarma said North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) chairman Himanta Biswa Sarma would come here on Wednesday and in his presence, it would be decided how many berths would be given to the IPFT in the ministry.

The IPFT has demanded 'respectable representation' in the new ministry.

In Meghalaya, Conrad Sangma, the 40-year-old chief of the National People's Party (NPP), took oath on Tuesday morning as the new chief minister at the head of a five-party coalition.

Meanwhile, the stalemate at Nagaland ended with Nagaland Chief Minister TR Zeliang resigning on Tuesday, day after the BJP made it clear it would stick to its pre-poll ally Nationalist Democratic People's Party (NDPP). NDPP leader and former chief minister Neiphiu Rio is expected to be sworn in on March 8. More reports on P6