Agartala: Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda are arriving in Agartala on Tuesday to chair a series of meetings ahead of the swearing-in ceremony of the new cabinet scheduled to be held on Wednesday.
BJP Tripura state president Rajiv Bhattacharjee told EastMojo that both the leaders would land at MBB airport in Agartala at 5:30 p.m. He, however, refused to divulge anything regarding the motive of their visit to the state.
“Home minister Amit Shah and JP Nadda are arriving today, a day before the swearing-in ceremony of the new state cabinet. They will reach Agartala around 5:30 pm,” said Bhattacharjee.
The arrival of both senior leaders assumes significance given the fact the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has been battling an impasse over the allocation of ministerial berths among the newly elected MLAs.
It is worth to be mentioned here that Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha has already been appointed as the leader of the legislature party by the MLAs but the party is facing a rough phase in filling up the remaining 11 cabinet berths.
Sources said Amit Shah and JP Nadda are arriving to get the party out of the stalemate.
“There are only 11 cabinet positions other than the Chief Minister but there are many aspirants. The party’s state leadership has sought Centre’s intervention to resolve the internal issues, which if not tackled carefully might open the floodgates and hence both the top leaders are arriving a day before the oath-taking ceremony. Their presence in the second spell of party legislature meeting will make it easy for filling up the vacant posts of the state cabinet,” said a senior BJP leader.
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The party has taken a decision to make the post of Deputy Chief Minister redundant for the next cabinet due to the absence of former Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma among the elected MLAs.
The party is also in a dilemma over the role of Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik, who clinched a victory from the Left citadel Dhanpur in the just concluded polls.
When all these issues are haunting the Tripura BJP, the visit of both the senior leaders is being seen as a relief for the party’s state leadership.
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