BJP MLAs take oath; journey of the saffron party with minorities in Tripura begins

By  Firstdespatch Desk   Sep 12, 2023

Agartala, Sept 12 (FD) Ruling BJP MLAs, Tafajjal Hossain and Bindu Debnath, who have won the by-elections from Boxanagar and Dhanpur constituencies  in Tripura’s Sepahijala district on September 8 last  today  took oath and office of secrecy at the Tripura Legislative assembly.

Speaker Biswabandhu Sen administered the oath in presence of the Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha, his cabinet colleagues, government officials and the Mayor of Agartala city, Deepak Majumder.

Tafajjal Hossain is the BJP’s first Muslim MLA in Tripura has emerged as the party’s poster boy, who is likely to get a ministerial berth as three posts are vacant in the 12-member cabinet of the state, said a highly placed source in the party.

Hossain told reporters that development in his constituency, which is dominated by the minorities, is his first priority as it remained neglected for decades.

“I also want the people from the minority community to catch up at par with every citizen of the state. Development has no religion and I also do not consider my party to have any kind of attitude of inequity towards minorities. I thank Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving an opportunity to serve the people”, he added.

The BJP’s tally in the 60-member assembly rose to 33 with the win of the Boxanagar constituency as the by-elections were necessitated due to sudden demise MLA of Boxanagar, Shamsul Haque, who was a CPI-M leader and resignation of Union Minister of State for Social Empowerment and Justice Pratima Bhoumik from Dhanpur where she had won the Feb 16 state assembly elections. FD JK