With BJP poised to win elections in Tripura scoring 32 of the 60 Assembly seats, all eyes are set on the Parliamentary Board’s decision to announce the Chief Minister of the north eastern state. Many insiders in the BJP in the past felt that Chief Minister Manik Saha’s late entry was not able to give enough push to the party that wrested control from the Left under its then president Biplap Deb, who had gone on to become the Chief Minister in 2018.
Recently, BJP surprised everyone by announcing a sitting Union Minister Dr Pratima Bhoumik as a candidate and fielding her in the same constituency – Dhanpur in West Tripura from where Left party’s Manik Sarkar had won four consecutive election becoming one of the longest serving CMs.
As per the latest tally, 18774 votes have been polled in her favour. The margin between her and nearest opponent, Kaushik Chanda of CPI(M) is 3440. 18731 votes have been polled in favour of Manik Shah, who is contesting from Town Bardowali constituency. He is leading with over 1000 votes against Congress’ Asish Kumar Saha.
BJP insiders say that the Union minister for social justice and empowerment was initially offered the Agartala-6 Assembly seat where sitting MLA Sudip Roy Barman has been a strong candidate for Congress.
However, she was allocated the Dhanpur constituency in West Tripura district. Dhanpur has long been represented by a four-time chief minister and Tripura’s longest-serving MLA, Manik Sarkar of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Sarkar is not contesting this time.
Bhaumik’s candidature has raised her political stock in the state with many expecting that she could be a replacement of chief minister Manik Saha as many in the BJP feel that many Congress defectors are being given prominent positions too soon.
Many feel it was too early for the party to make Saha – who joined the BJP from Congress in 2016 – the chief minister of Tripura in May last year.
On the other hand, Bhoumik has been with the BJP since 1991 when the saffron party had almost no significance in the then Left ruled state.
Apart from her staunch allegiance to the BJP ideology, many other factors like her excellent track record as a public figure, her connection with the masses, and her humble family background work in her favour.
She hails from a family of farmers in the remote Dhanpur village of the Sonamura sub-division in the Sepahijala district.
Bhoumik won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the 1-West Tripura parliamentary constituency with a margin of more than 3 lakh votes. In July 2021, she took oath as a Union minister to become the first permanent resident of Tripura to do so.
It is her ability to connect with people easily that has earned her the nickname ‘Didi’. Popular among social, cultural and religious groups, Bhoumik is credited with launching and spearheading many social initiatives like blood donation.
One of the reasons for BJP’s impressive performance in the state was the effective implementation of central schemes such as Atal Jal Dhara mission, and Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana. The Tripura BJP election committee had also focused on social pension schemes. It was on PM Modi’s birthday on 17th November that Tripura doubled its social security pension to Rs 2,000 per month. PM extensively toured Tripura and inaugurated several infrastructural projects in the run up to the elections.
With the party’s second successive win, it is likely that BJP will go ahead with a deputy CM to ensure its succession plan and party’s north east face after the resounding success in Assam where they groomed then a young rebellious leader Himanta Biswa Sarma. In a setback for the BJP, Tipra Motha’s Subodh Deb Barma has won from Charilam, defeating BJP’s Jishnu Dev Varma, who served as the deputy CM, by 858 votes. It remains to be seen who is picked to fill in for him. Varma, was largely believed to be BJP’s trump card, and continues to be a staunch party loyalist despite his nephew Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barma joining hands with the Congress and the Left.