Manik Saha to be Tripura CM, PM Modi to attend oath

AGARTALA/GUWAHATI: Manik Saha, whose 10 months as Tripura CM marked him out as BJP's choice for a full term at the helm going into the polls, was Monday elected legislature party leader amid lobbying by some within the party for Union minister of state for social justice and empowerment Pratima Bhoumik.
A spokesperson for BJP said all 32 MLAs of the party "unanimously" endorsed Saha. His former deputy Jishnu Dev Varma, who lost the Charilam seat to his nephew and royal scion Pradyot Debbarman's Tipra Motha, is tipped to retain the post along with key portfolios like finance.

Sources said BJP waited three days after the poll results were declared to convene the legislature meeting in Tripura because the party hadn't expected Varma and state president Rajib Bhattacharjee to end up on the losing side. The twin losses strengthened the murmurs in the Bhoumik camp about whether Saha was still the best person to the lead the new government, they said.

In Nagaland, the BJP legislature party Monday decided that party member Y Patton would remain deputy CM in the new NDPP-led government there.
PM Narendra Modi is scheduled to be in Agartala on Wednesday when the second BJP-IPFT government takes the oath of office, making it the third consecutive swearing-in ceremony for him in as many days. He will be in Shillong and Kohima the previous day to attend the installation of coalition governments led by Conrad Sangma in Meghalaya and Neiphiu Rio in Nagaland.

This is the first time that the PM will be attending the swearing-in of state governments in Nagaland and Meghalaya. Modi was in Tripura on February 13 and in Nagaland and Meghalaya on February 24 to campaign for BJP and its allies.
"The PM will reach Guwahati at 10am Tuesday. He will take a chopper to Shillong to attend the swearing-in of the new government there at 11am. From there, he will fly to Kohima for the second swearing-in (of the NDPP-led government), scheduled for 1.45pm," Assam health minister Keshab Mahanta said. Modi will return to Guwahati and spend the night at the state guesthouse before leaving for Agartala in the morning.