A year ahead of the polls, Tripura’s Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb resigns

Biplab Kumar Deb has resigned as the chief minister of Tripura, a year before the state goes to the polls.

According to NDTV, the young Bharatiya Janata Party leader, who was elected chief minister by the members of the Tripura legislative assembly in 2018, put in his papers to the state’s governor on Saturday.

"The party wants me to work to strengthen the organisation," news agency PTI quoted Biplab Deb as saying.

The sudden resignation came as a shock to many, especially during an election cycle, in which Tripura’s ruling BJP is likely to face a tough challenge from the All India Trinamool Congress, more commonly known as TM.

TM defeated the BJP in the 2021 West Bengal polls.

“We are taken by surprise. Don’t know what prompted him. But obviously, he had discussions with the party central leadership. The party may have some plans and we are confident that it will be good for the party,” a minister in Deb’s Cabinet is quoted by the Indian Express as saying.

NDTV reported that the resignation follows reports of infighting within the BJP's state unit.

According to multiple reports, the party’s legislature unit, along with several senior All India BJP leaders, will meet later on Saturday to elect its new leader.

Biplab, the son of migrant parents from Bangladesh, became the first BJP chief minister of Tripura, ending the 25-year-rule of the Communist Party of India.

He, however, is not the first BJP CM to have resigned a year ahead of the elections. Last year, BJP’s chief ministers in Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Karnataka all resigned. The party retained a majority in the respective assemblies in this year’s polls.