Monitoring Desk
AGARTALA: Manik Sarkar, who has been the Chief Minister of Tripura for 25 years, tendered his resignation to Governor Tathagata Roy on Sunday afternoon.
The Governor accepted Sarkar’s resignation, but asked him to officiate until the next government is sworn in.
“The cooperation from the people and administration helped us run the government for 20 years. The people were with us, and we were with the people.
Without their cooperation, it would have been impossible to implement government policies.
I cannot thank them enough,” Sarkar told reporters after meeting the Governor.
Before heading for Raj Bhavan here, Sarkar visited the State CPI(M) headquarters to pay homage to Fisheries Minister and six-time MLA Khangendra Jamatia, who died of cancer at AIIMS in New Delhi on March 2.
His body was brought to Agartala on Sunday.
BJP State president Biplab Kumar Deb also paid homage to Jamatia at the CPI(M) office, where he met Sarkar and sought his blessings for handling the responsibility of steering an alliance government.
“Being in power will be a challenge, but then life without challenge is no life at all,” Deb said outside the CPI(M) office, advising BJP workers to exercise restraint while celebrating an “historic” victory.
“You carry out victory rallies and rejoice, but in a manner that does not cause inconvenience to others. Your happiness should not increase the sadness of others because the party motto is to take everyone together on the road to development,” he said in a message to workers.
Deb declined to comment on if he would be the next Chief Minister of the State. “This is for the leadership to decide. The party made me State president, and my job is to ensure we honour the people’s mandate to the best of our capability,” he said.
He said the swearing-in would be on March 8, two days after party heavyweights converge to elect the legislature party leader. “(Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin) Gadkariji is scheduled to arrive here on March 6 for electing the legislature party leader.
The swearing-in would be done a couple of days later,” he told the media.
BJP leaders said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had during the campaign hoped to witness Tripura turning saffron from red, is expected to attend the oath-taking ceremony.
The BJP won 35 of the 59 seats where elections were held on February 18.
Its ally, the Indigenous People’s Front of Twipra (IPFT) won eight seats taking the tally to 43. The CPI(M), which had won 49 seats in 2013, had to be satisfied with 16.
Deb declined to say if he would be the BJP’s candidate for Chief Minister.
“This is for the leadership to decide. The party made me State president, and my job is to ensure we honor the people’s mandate to the best of our capability,” he said.
