Biplab Kumar Deb sends strong message by sacking health minister

AGARTALA: Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb has sent a strong message to both the administration and the party by excluding health minister and seasoned politician Sudip Roy Barman from his cabinet and removing chief secretary Lalit Kumar Gupta. In addition, the CM has also sent DGP AK Shukla on long leave.
According to sources, soon after assuming office as CM last year, Deb had expressed his displeasure over the administrative functioning of Tripura.Though he was born and raised in Tripura, Deb's career in politics was started in Delhi in a different set up. Deb was trained under RSS leaders like Gobindacharya. He had worked closely with top BJP leaders and several central ministers.
But soon after he got involved in Tripura politics as BJP prachar pramukh in 2015, Biplab started facing problems due to the work culture and functioning of the party. Later, when he joined as BJP state president, Deb was able to sway the voters by his relentless efforts, which is unusual in Tripura politics.
As soon as he took charge as CM, Deb served till midnight just to learn the administration. The security people in the civil secretariat and even his first principal secretary Lalit Kumar Gupta (CS who was removed) expressed their inability to work till late at night.
"He was desperately looking for officers who are habituated to his style of work. Deb started Janadarbar at the secretariat to dispose of cases of public grievances which was not accepted by many in the administration as time-bound action and reporting him back appeared to be problematic for them," said a close associate of the CM.
The chief minister had suspended as many as 16 officers during his field visit in the last one year for their unsatisfactory performance, which made officials of the state cadre hostile.
Taking advantage of the CM's displeasure, a section of bureaucrats poisoned him against Roy Barman and a group of senior officers, a source said.
Sources said the corrupt lobby in the administration, in connivance with a section of BJP leaders, hatched a conspiracy and poisoned the mind of the chief minister against Roy Barman and a few others to take over the administration.