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Agartala, Sep. 23 (IANS): Veteran Tripura leader and former minister Ratan Chakraborty is likely to be elected the new Assembly Speaker unopposed after incumbent Rebati Mohan Das quit earlier this month, citing "personal reasons", officials said on Thursday.
Assembly Secretary Bishnu Pada Karmakar told IANS that only the nomination paper of Chakraborty was submitted till Thursday, the last date.
CPI-M state Secretary Jitendra Chaudhury had told IANS that his party, which has 16-members in the 60-member house, would not contest the election.
Chakraborty said that he would perform whatever responsibility the party bestows on him.
"After around three decades, I have been chosen for a constitutional post, and for this, I am grateful to Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb," Chakraborty told IANS.
The choice of the three-time MLA for the post is considered significant, as Deputy Speaker Biswa Bandhu Sen was a strong contender.
Chakraborty, who joined the BJP in 2017 and was elected from the Khayerpur constituency in 2018 polls, is a former minister in the Congress-led government (1988-1993).
Party sources said that Chakraborty's elevation was part of the BJP central leadership's decision to revamp both the government and the party organisation ahead of the 2023 Assembly polls.
In view of open resentment by a section of ruling party MLAs and leaders led by former BJP Minister Sudip Roy Barman, three new faces -- Ram Prasad Paul, Sushanta Chowdhury, Bhagaban Chandra Das -- were inducted into the Tripura cabinet last month in the first ever expansion of the BJP-IPFT alliance government.