Biplab Kumar Deb, BJP's Probable Tripura CM Candidate Meets Manik Sarkar

Agartala: Tripura Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Biplab Kumar Deb, who is likely to be the party's Chief Ministerial candidate in the northeastern state, on Sunday met outgoing Chief Minister Manik Sarkar and took his blessings. Deb, 48, met the 69-year-old Left leader at the Communist Party of India-Marxist Tripura state headquarters, where the BJP leader went to pay his last respects to Fisheries and Cooperative Department Minister Khagendra Jamatia, who died at the AIIMS in New Delhi on Friday after suffering from blood cancer. "I have not been selected as Chief Ministerial candidate of BJP yet. I met Manik Da and sought his blessings. He is much senior to me and an experienced man," Deb told reporters. Deb, who defeated CPI-M nominee and the party's youth leader Amal Chakraborty in the Banamalipur constituency by a margin of 9,549 votes, won the electoral battle in his maiden attempt. Congress party leader Gopal Roy contested unsuccessfully from the Banamalipur seat by securing only 832 votes. Roy, who was elected to the state assembly five times, had won the Banamalipur seat three times in a row. The BJP Tripura Pradesh Chief appealed to the party cadres and all concerned to maintain peace in the state and not to indulge in any post-poll violence.