Tripura: Sudip skips, BJP, CPI-M and Congress MLAs take oath

Agartala: The Pro-tem speaker Binoy Bhushan Das administered the oath of office to the ruling BJP legislators along with opposition CPI-M and Congress members of Tripura assembly on Thursday.

As many as 31 BJP, 11 CPI-M, 2 Congress, and the lone member of BJP’s ally IPFT have taken the oath; however, Congress MLA and former minister of the BJP Sudip Roybarman skipped the swearing-in ceremony in the assembly citing his pre-occupation, which spread different speculation.

After the resignation of union minister of state for social justice and empowerment Pratima Bhoumik on Wednesday from the MLA post who won Dhanpur seat of Sepahijala as a BJP nominee, the strength of the ruling BJP-IPFT has reduced to 32.

The party would likely field former deputy chief minister Jishnu Dev Varma from Dhanpur in the by-election, party sources said.

Assembly sources said Roybarman would take the oath on Friday along with 13 members of the main opposition TIPRA Motha in the same venue.

Roybarman became silent and disappeared since March 2 after the result of the assembly election was announced and CPI-M -Congress combine faced a humiliating defeat.

Earlier, Roybarman had made a public promise before the election that he would not pursue politics if BJP touches double digits in the election, but in the result, BJP alone secured 32 seats in 60 members assembly and CPIM-Congress won only 14 seats.

Roybarman has been trolled on social media by his opponent for the last two weeks for his statements but he didn’t respond. He has been found absent from the public appearance including the visit of MPs of left parties and Congress for the alleged post-poll violence.

He was not seen anywhere in public in his constituency despite a series of violence on the opposition supporters after the declaration of results.

After taking oath as a member of the legislative assembly, Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha told the media, “People of Tripura kept their faith in BJP for the second term with certain aspirations and we also made 24 specific promises before the election. Now, our duty is to work fairly in a time-bound manner to fulfill the public expectation. I want the support of opposition parties for the development of Tripura and expect their constructive role in and outside the assembly.”

This is for the first time three parties would seat in opposition from different political ideologies and viewpoints in Tripura, which will certainly help the government to deliver the best in next five years, Dr Saha added.

The CPI(M) secretary Jitendra Chaudhury after taking oath asserted although they won only 11 seats, they represented the whole population of Tripura and extend full support to the government for ensuring development, strengthening democracy, protect the constitutional rights of the people.

Congress president Birjit Sinha said, “With three members Congress would support the government for the development of the state beyond all politics. But we shall not compromise with the undemocratic, unconstitutional, and anti-people attempts of the government.”