Agartala: Former RSS volunteer and gym instructor Biplab Kumar Deb was elected as the leader of the Tripura House by the BJP legislature party on Tuesday. He will be sworn in - with PM Narendra Modi being present - as the 10th chief minister of the state and the fourth BJP CM in the region at a grand function at Agartala on March 9.The BJP legislators also elected party's tribal leader and a scion of the royal family, Jishnu Dev Varma , as the deputy chief minister. The 59-year-old Dev Varma is, however, yet to be elected as the polls in his Charilam constituency has been deferred till March 12 following death of the CPM candidate. He is the richest among all the candidates who were in the fray.Soon after their election, Deb and Dev Varma drove to Raj Bhavan where they staked claim to form government before governor Tathagata Roy.BJP has filled up the two top posts of the cabinet with its own men leaving its ally, Indigenous People's Front of Tripura fuming. The IPFT-NC was promised the post of deputy chief minister by BJP when the pre-poll agreement was signed. Their president NC Debbarma told TOI that he is meeting Himanta Biswa Sarma at Agartala on Wednesday to resolve all issues, including that of the post of the deputy CM."There is no question of being satisfied or dissatisfied. There are a number of issues that need to be resolved - the issue of deputy CM, the number of berths and the portfolio that we will get. After that, if we have reason to believe that we have not been given due importance, we will have to consider other options. One way out is offering an outside support to BJP or we may not even be a part of the government," Debbarma said.The state council of ministers is limited to 12 and with two top posts already filled up, there will be 10 more seats to be distributed between the two allies. Debbarma said he is expecting a minimum of three berths. BJP has carried out a balancing act by having a Bengali as the CM and a tribal as his deputy. It has thus ensured that it will form government on its own terms, without support from its ally.The saffron party has 35 MLAs and is comfortably placed to have a majority on its own. BJP observer Sunil Deodhar told TOI that BJP has not ignored IPFT-NC and they will be taken care of when berths and portfolios are distributed. When asked if keeping the posts of CM and deputy CM to itself was a deliberate move, Deodhar said, "We have to take into consideration the voting pattern. The tribal population threw out CPM and voted for us. Of the 11 seats we contested, we have won nine and after election in Charilam our strength will be 10. We have to respect the mandate of tribal voters. Moreover, our tribal MLAs are more than in the IPFT (8)."Deb's swearing-in will take placeat the Assam Rifles ground at Agartala. After Assam, this is the second biggest win in the region for the saffron party and BJP wants a repeat of the grand affair as was the case when Sarbananda Sonowal was sworn-in a couple of years back.

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