Agartala, September 19, 2023: The BJP’s victory in the recent bypolls to two assembly seats with significant minority voters impressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Tripura Chief Minister Prof Dr Manik Saha said on Tuesday. He attributed the win to the development work done by the central and state governments.

Dr Saha, who met Modi in Delhi recently, said the prime minister was curious about how the BJP managed to win Boxanagar and Dhanpur seats by huge margins.

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While speaking in a party’s programme at Vivekananda Craft & Cultural Centre, Rajnagar in South Tripura district on Tuesday, CM Dr Saha said “Boxanagar and Dhanpur have a large number of voters from the minority community. I told him that we followed the mantra of ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikash’. I visited the Madrasas of Boxanagar and Dhanpur eight to ten times and convinced them that the BJP is for everyone. And we succeeded.”

The BJP candidate won Boxanagar, where most of the voters are from the minority community, by over 20,000 votes and the CPIM candidate lost his deposit. The BJP also retained Dhanpur, where tribal and Muslim voters play a role, by 18,000 votes.

Dr Saha said that such a massive win for the BJP in seats with minority voters was rare in any other state. He said that the BJP-IPFT coalition increased its strength from 32 to 34 in the 60-member assembly after the bypolls. “The central leadership asked me if I had any doubt about winning the bypolls but I assured them that we would win comfortably,” he said.

The Chief Minister also asked party leaders to serve the people of all castes and religions and stressed on the need for door-to-door campaigning. “Some people said that it was not appropriate for a chief minister to do door-to-door campaigning for the bypolls but I did it and it helped the party,” he said.

Dr Saha also welcomed 700 opposition voters of 203 families who joined the BJP from the CPI(M) and Congress at Rajnagar.