Who is Manik Saha, the BJP leader set to succeed Biplab Deb as Tripura CM

Tripura BJP president Manik Saha was on Saturday elected as the leader of the BJP legislative party in Agartala. Saha succeeds Biplab Deb, who stepped down as the chief minister after serving four years in office. The Rajya Sabha MP will take over as the CM just a year before the assembly elections. The big elevation comes two months after he was retained as the state BJP chief in the organisational rejig. 

Here’s all you need to know about Tripura’s chief minister-designate Manik Saha.

1. A dentist by profession, Saha obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degree in dental surgery from Patna’s Government Dental College and King Georges’ Medical College in Lucknow. 

2. He also taught dental surgery as a professor at the Tripura Medical College and the Dr B.R.A.M Teaching Hospital in Agartala, as per the Rajya Sabha website. 

3. Saha joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2016. In 2020, he was appointed as the president of the Tripura BJP unit. 

4. Manik Saha is also the president of the Tripura Cricket Association.

5. In April this year, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha to the lone seat in the state.  All BJP and Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) MLAs cast their votes in favour of Saha and he left his rival candidate Bhanu Lal Saha far behind in the race.

Tripura will go to polls to elect its 60-member assembly next year. The BJP had won 36 seats, ending the 25-year-long rule of Left Front government under Manik Sarkar. The saffron party is likely to face challenge from Mamata Banerjeee-led Trinamool Congress.