The Bharatiya Janata Party announced Biplab Deb as the party’s candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha bypolls from Tripura, the party announced on Friday.

The announcement came hours after former Tripura CM Deb was made Haryana state in charge by the saffron party. The former CM’s popularity had earlier helped BJP to clean sweep the northeastern state marking a thumping victory in 2018. The 2018 victory overtook the Left’s rule of 25 years in Tripura.

After taking oath as the 10th Chief Minister of Tripura on March 9, 2018, he stepped down from the state CM post on May 14 this year. He was then succeeded by Manik Saha who took oath as Tripura’s Chief Minister on May 15.
“Gratitude to PM Modi, BJP, JP Nadda, Amit Shah Ji for nominating me as a BJP candidate for Rajya Sabha MP from Tripura. I am committed to working for the development and welfare of Tripura and its people,” Tweeted Deb.

The Election Commission of India has announced the dates for the by-election for the Rajya Sabha seat vacated by Manik Saha. This election will take place on September 22, 2022. Saha was elected to the Upper House in April this year and his term is a full system up to April 2028.7

Within a few weeks of Manik Saha taking an oath to the Rajya Sabha, the party’s top brass appointed him to take up the job of the Chief Minister of Tripura. The state of northeast Tripura goes into elections next year. BJP eyes forming a second term strong government while the opposition seems to be backing support from Mamata Banerjee-led TMC.

Earlier, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president JP Nadda on Friday appointed in charge of various states and Union Territories including poll-bound states like Tripura and Telangana. Vinod Tawde has been appointed as  General Secretary in Bihar, while Harish Dwivedi continues to be the co-in-charge.

Om Mathur who had been recently appointed to the Parliamentary board has been made in charge of Chhattisgarh. Former Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb has been given an organisational responsibility and made in charge of Haryana.
Vinod Sonkar who was in charge of Tripura, which goes into election next year, has been replaced by former Union Minister and Noida MP Dr Mahesh Sharma.
Former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has also been given organisational responsibilities in Punjab and Chandigarh. National General Secretary Tarun Chugh continues to be in charge of Telangana.

Bengal has found a new in charge in the form of Bihar MLC Mangal Pandey whereas Amit Malviya continues to be the co-in charge. Kerala has a new in charge in the form of former Union Minister Prakash Javadekar.  General secretary Arun Singh also continues to be in charge of Rajasthan. National general secretary Dilip Saikia has been replaced by Laxmi Kant Bajpai in Jharkhand.

Recently Bajpai was brought to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh and has also been made the chief whip of the party in the Rajya Sabha. Sources aware of the development say that these appointments have been made keeping in mind various combinations of caste and keeping people who have previously held positions of power engaged in organisational work. The year 2023 will be full of electoral battles in which states like Tripura, Meghalaya, and Nagaland are going to the polls in the first part of the year.