BJP : suspense continuing over party president, lobbying commences for statewide civic body elections

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, January 16, 2026

Even though the BJP at the national level is already decided on the next all India president, the post continues to lie vacant in Tripura with a number of aspirants jockeying for the prestigious position. While Nitin Nabin , a five-time BJP MLA of Bihar and incumbent minister for PWD, has unanimously been anointed as the next president in place of the incumbent and union health minister J.P.Nadda , the question over the next incumbent in the post of party president in Tripura still hangs in the balance. It was given out by the BJP national leaders at the organisational level that the posts of state presidents would be selected or nominated by the new national president and it is expected that after his formal inauguration in the top party post , expectedly on January 19, Nitin Nabin will take the initiative for appointment of state president in Tripura.

Highly placed sources in state BJP here said that a decision is expected soon but the issue has got embroiled in a tug of war between two major factions of the party. There are at least 5/6 aspirants for the post and it is quite unlikely that there will be an election. The names being frequently heard as front-runners for the post of president are MLA Bhagwan Das, deputy speaker Ram Prasad Paul who is a very old-timer of the party, Subal Bhowmik, Pratima Bhowmik , Amit Rakshit and an obscure Hrishikesh Dey whose camp has been circulating unfounded information in the social media about his chances. “Despite all the cacophony of social media campaign or lobbying , finally the national leadership of the party, specially the new national president and the organisational chief B.L.Santosh will take the last call ; the matter lies in their hands but the decision may be announced sooner rather than later” said a senior leader of the party.

Meanwhle, lobbying by sitting members of AMC, Municipalities, Nagar Panchayats and new aspirants has already started with an eye to the upcoming statewide civic body election in November or December this year . Scenting that the party leadership is likely to go for a major pruning operation in regard to nominations for the polls the sitting corporators and members of Municipalities and Nagar Panchayats have started lobbying for protecting their positions as well as by others to gain nominations.

The last statewide civic polls had come off on November 25 20121 after a year’s delay due to Covid Pandemic . The elections had been held for constituting the state’s lone Municipal Corporation at Agartala, 13 municipal councils and 6 Nagar Panchayats having altogether 334 seats. Sources said that this time the number of seats in the AMC may go up further from the present 51and more rural areas are likely to be included in the AMC. But more significantly, the party leadership have already started taking stock of the performance of all elected members in civic bodies across the state and this may lead to major omissions , either due to shifting reservation or non-performance or allegations of corruption. This has already triggered jockeying for positions.

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