Tripura: Two BJP MLAs resign citing differences with CM Biplab Deb, likely to join Congress

In a jolt to the BJP, two sitting MLAs from the ruling party have resigned in Tripura, citing differences with CM Biplab Kumar Deb.

Sudip Roy Barman and Ashish Saha have sent their resignations to Speaker Ratan Chakraborty.

“We have also sent letters to BJP state president Manik Saha, resigning from the primary membership of the party,” Saha told the media.

According to sources, the rebel BJP MLAs may join the Congress on Tuesday in Delhi.

Reacting to the development, Congress leader and Tripura in-charge Ajoy Kumar said the resignation of the BJP MLAs shows that there is no democracy in Tripura.

Hitting out at Deb, Kumar said, “The BJP government is strangulating basic rights of the people of Tripura”.

Last year, former BJP leader Ashish Das had also resigned as MLA.

With the latest resignations, the BJP’s number has fallen to 33 MLAs in the 60-member Tripura Assembly.

This is not the first time that BJP MLAs have expressed opposition to Deb’s functioning as the chief minister. In October 2020, nine BJP MLAs had come out openly against Deb’s “misrule”.

They met the party's central leadership in Delhi, but the crisis was somehow resolved.

Barman had led the group, which also included Saha.

“All the pre-poll promises mentioned in the party’s vision document are made to be fulfilled. These should be reflected in action, but we are far away from reality,” the BJP MLAs had complained.

The BJP and its ally, the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), had registered a landmark victory in the state in 2018, dislodging the 25-year-old Left Front government in the state. While BJP had won 36 seats, IPFT had won eight seats in the assembly polls held in 2018.