PM Modi decided to make me Tripura CM, I just accepted: Manik Saha

Agartala: Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Sunday said it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had decided to make him the CM replacing Biplab Kumar Deb in March 2022, ahead of the assembly elections.

Saha said he had accepted the decision taken by the PM, though his family had been sceptical about it.

There had been rumours that the two leaders had differences over party matters.


"In the BJP, the decision on chief minister is taken by the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi), and we have no other role but to accept it," he said during a party programme in West Tripura's Mohanpur.

In a surprise development, Deb had resigned as the first BJP chief minister of the state on May 14, 2022, and Saha took charge. The Assembly elections were held on February 16, 2023, and the saffron party returned to power.

Recalling the chain of sequences, Saha said, "I received a call (on March 13, 2022) from Biplab Kumar Deb, who told me that a major decision will be taken. He tendered his resignation as the chief minister the next day."

Saha said it was Deb who proposed his name as the next chief minister before the central leadership.

"We have no role in who will be the chief minister. The Prime Minister takes a decision, and we all have to accept the decision. Even my family members had been sceptical when my name (as CM) flashed on the TV screen," he said.

Praising the role of Deb in installing the BJP-led government in the northeastern state for the first time in 2018, Saha also said that it was the former CM who got his name enrolled as the BJP's primary member in 2016 and made him the party's state unit president, chief of membership drive and Rajya Sabha MP.

Asserting that "he is a doctor and not an actor", Saha said he has a good relationship with his predecessor, who is now an MP, since his joining the BJP.

Saha added that Deb has a proven skill in developing an organisation, and the party has taken the "right decision" to appoint him as the 'Saha Prabhari' (deputy in-charge) of the 2026 West Bengal assembly elections.

After the speech, Deb, who was present on the stage, hugged Saha.