Agartala, July 2 (IANS) Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha would expand his council of ministers on July 3, sources said on Wednesday.

Sources said that on the advice of the Chief Minister, Governor Indra Sena Reddy Nallu would administer the oath of office and secrecy to the new minister at the Raj Bhavan.

One probable name — Kishore Barman — is doing the rounds about the possible minister. BJP MLA Barman was elected in the 2023 Assembly polls from Nalchar constituency in Sepahijala district.

As per the constitutional mandate, the size of the council of ministers is 12, including the Chief Minister. One ministerial berth has been lying vacant. The sources said that at least five BJP MLAs are the contenders for the ministerial berths.

On March 8, 2023, the BJP and Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) coalition government led by Saha came to power for the second consecutive term. The Tipra Motha Party (TMP), headed by former royal scion Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma, contested the 2023 Assembly polls separately but in March last year, after signing a tripartite agreement with the Centre and the Tripura government, joined the BJP-IPFT coalition government, adding a new twist to Tripura politics.

Accordingly, two TMP MLAs — Animesh Debbarma and Brishaketu Debbarma — were inducted into the ministry.

The IPFT currently has one minister — Sukla Charan Noatia — in the 11-member council of the ministry. The BJP-IPFT alliance had retained power in Tripura by winning 33 seats in the 60-member Assembly.

The TMP, which contested the Assembly elections in 2023 for the first time, won 13 seats of the 42 seats it contested, emerging as the second largest party after the BJP.

The CPI-M won 11 seats in the elections while the Congress bagged three. The CPI-M-led Left Front and the Congress had a seat-sharing arrangement for the elections.

The TMP became a political force in April 2021 after it wrested power in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council. The politically important TTAADC has jurisdiction over two-thirds of Tripura’s 10,491 sq km area, and is home to over 1,21,6000 people, of which around 84 per cent are tribals.

–IANS

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