Dental surgeon is the new Manik at helm of Tripura

GUWAHATI: Tripura's CM-designate Manik Saha, once a Congressman, was a dental surgeon and professor at Tripura Medical College before plunging into politics. Known to be a close confidant of his predecessor, Biplab Kumar Deb, Saha (69) left Congress and joined BJP in 2016. Four years later, he became president of the party's state unit, replacing Deb. CPM's Manik Sarkar was Tripura's CM from March 1998 to March 2018.

Last March, Saha was elected to the Rajya Sabha.

Saha obtained his bachelor's degree in dental surgery in 1983, and in 1995 he completed his postgraduation. An enthusiastic cricket fan, he is also president of the Tripura Cricket Association. People describe Saha as a calm person who climbed the ladder in BJP to become party president in just four years. When he joined BJP, he was put in charge of electoral roll page; later, he was made convener of the booth management committee in 2018. He exceeded the target of enrolling 3,00,000 new members by more than two-fold. As state party president, Saha led BJP to a landslide victory in the Tripura civic polls in November 2021.