Lok Sabha polls: Tripura BJP core committee meets on candidate selections, CM leaves for Delhi

As the Lok Sabha elections approach, the Tripura BJP's core committee held its first meeting to discuss candidate selection for the upcoming election on Tuesday.

In preparation for the election, the Central BJP, with the approval of the national president of the state, Jagat Prakash Nadda, has formed a 16-member State Core Committee for Pradesh BJP.

Sources from Pradesh BJP informed India Today NE that after the formation of the core committee, the committee held its first-ever meeting on the Lok Sabha elections and discussed probable candidate names.

"The meeting today was held in the afternoon, chaired by Chief Minister Prof. Dr. Manik Saha, with BJP state president Rajib Bhattacharya and State Prabhari Dr. Mahesh Sharma also present. A broad discussion was held on the upcoming Lok Sabha election. During this meeting, we preliminary discussed the party's position in both seats. As in previous years, we won both of them, and this year we aim to surpass the last year's vote share," said a senior BJP leader.

The leader further informed that as per the rules, three candidates have to be selected from each assembly.

"For the time being, we have selected two names for the East and three for the West Assembly. However, the names are not yet finalized. Chief Minister Dr. Saha, former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, and former Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma have left for Delhi this evening to hold a meeting with the central leadership on the issue," added the source.

The state core committee comprises 13 members, with three additional members serving as special invitees.

The core committee includes Rajib Bhattacharya, BJP state president; Chief Minister Prof. Dr. Manik Saha; Former Chief Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Biplab Kumar Deb; Jishnu Dev Varma, Former Deputy Chief Minister; Union Minister of State Pratima Bhoumik; MP Rebati Tripura; Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy; Agriculture and Power Minister Ratan Lal Nath; former state president Manoj Kanti Debroy; State General Secretary Organization G.R Ravindra Raju; and three general secretaries - Amit Rakshit, Bhagaban Das, and Bipin Debbarma.

The three special invitees are Northeast Coordinator and BJP National Spokesperson Dr. Sambit Patra, National Secretary and Northeast Joint Coordinator Rituraj Sinha, and State Prabhari Dr. Mahesh Sharma.