Agartala, March 9: Biplab Kumar Deb on Friday was sworn-in as the new Chief Minister of Tripura.  With this, Deb has become the first Bharatiya Janata Party Chief Minister in the state. The 48-year-old Tripura BJP president took the oath as the Chief Minister of the northeastern state today at a grand ceremony that was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president Amit Shah and other party leaders.

Deb is a long-time RSS volunteer and has been largely credited for BJP’s turnaround in Tripura along with senior party leader Ram Madhav and RSS leader Sunil Deodhar. Senior BJP leader Jishnu Debbarma has been sworn in as Deb's deputy in the new government. Other leaders including Pranojit Singh Roy, Manoj Kanti Deb and other members of Tripura Cabinet also took their oath.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP President Amit Shah, Former CM of Tripura Manik Sarkar, Senior BJP leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi were at the swearing-in ceremony of Biplab Deb & his cabinet ministers.

Tripura was considered the Left's bastion and was under the leadership of CPM's Manik Sarkar.  Sarkar, 69, had been the chief minister for 20 years and was seeking re-election for the fifth consecutive term this year. BJP leader Jishnu Debbarma today said that Tripura will usher into a new era of development, good governance and prosperity for people under the leadership.

The Left suffered a humiliating defeat after the BJP saw a spectacular electoral victory. Former chief minister Manik Sarkar was personally invited by Deb and BJP National General Secretary Ram Madhav.

On Wednesday,  Union minister Nitin Gadkari announced Deb as the chief minister while Jishnu Kumar Deb was named as deputy chief minister. The announcement was made at the state guesthouse in Agartala. Earlier in the month, the BJP and its ally Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) scripted history in the assembly election by ending the 25-year reign of the Left Front-led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), with a two-thirds majority in the Tripura legislative assembly elections. The BJP won 35 of the 59 seats that went to polls in Tripura, ousting the CPI(M) which won only in 17 assembly constituencies.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 09, 2018 12:10 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).