Tug of war over appointment of BJP state president continues , new candidates in field

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, July 2, 2025

The tug of war in BJP’s organizational level over the appointment of state president in Tripura as in other states is intensifying by the day even as hectic parleys continue at the central leadership level of the party. What has added grist to the rumour mill over the issue is that the central leadership is still undecided over the appointment of the national president to replace J.P.Nadda but sources said that the central leadership including prime minister Narendra Modi and strong man A mit Shah are in discussion over the issue with the RSS top notchers including the ‘Sarsangh Sanchalak’ Dr Mohan Bhagwat. A final decision on the appointment of national president is likely to be taken soon and the names of state presidents are also likely to be announced sooner rather than later. Many changes are expected to be effected in selecting state presidents.

In Tripura the issue of choosing a state president is now tangled in rivalries between two major groups who back different candidates. Sources said that the names of MLA Bhagwan Das, Amit Rakshit , Tapas Bhattachary and Hrishikesh De had been doing the rounds and there were also the names of minister Tinku Roy and party spokesman Nabendu Bhattacharya but, according to latest information , there are at least two other strong contenders for the coveted post.

Sources within BJP said that the names of former party MP and ‘Jana Jati Morcha’ leader Rebati Tripura and the incumbent deputy speaker Ram Prasad Paul, a longstanding BJP leader in Tripura now hold the front ranks as possible next state president. Despite being relatively young Rebati Tripura is known to be a very good organizer capable of strengthening the party among the tribal voters,many of whom are keen to join the mainstream of politics , parting company with regional party like the ‘Tipra Motha’. Rebati is believed to be capable of weathering the challenges posed by ‘Tipra Motha’ in the twenty tribal reserve assembly seats. The scale reportedly is in his favour but Ram Prasad Paul who had won the election to the post of party president in 2016 and then stepped back in favour of Biplab Kumar Deb at central party’s intervention is also no less formidable a candidate . He too is reportedly backed by the RSS just as Rebati is . Besides, the incumbent state president Rajeev Bhattacharjee is also reportedly lobbying in his own way to retain his post, if permitted by the central leadership.

Sources however said that a final decision on the post of next state president is likely to be taken soon and the entire issue will be settled within July. A group of top central leaders are expected to arrive in the state to announce the name of the new state president in a formal manner.

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