NEW DELHI: Union minister of state for social justice and empowerment Pratima Bhoumik has emerged as a strong contender to take over as the next Tripura chief minister even as the date for the formal swearing-in is yet to be announced. If she takes over, she will be the first woman CM in the entire North-East and the only woman amongst the current BJP chief ministers.
Sources said her chances of taking over as the next CM were equally strong as the continuation of the incumbentCM Manik Saha. Although the formal announcement is yet to be made and a senior leader had, just before the assembly polls, asserted that Saha will continue in case BJP won, the buzz about Bhoumik’s ascension was also doing the rounds.
It was learnt that Saha has already made moves to ensure his continuation as he has sent his two loyalists — Sushanta Choudhury and Ram Prasad Pal — to Guwahati to meet Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, a key party strategist.