Tripura Health Minister Roy Burman axed from ministry (Lead)

Health and Family Welfare Minister in the 15-month-old BJP-IPFT government in Tripura Sudip Roy Burman was on late Friday night removed from the ministry, an official notification said.

Acting Chief Secretary Kumar Alok said : "Sudip Roy Burman ceased to be a member of the Council of Ministers."

The notification, available with IANS, said that Burman's Health and Family Welfare, Industry and Commerce (Information Technology), PWD (Drinking Water and Sanitation Department) would be looked after by Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb.

Burman's another department, Science, Technology and Environment, was allocated to Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma.

"The Governor, Kaptan Singh Solanki, has acted on the advice of the Chief Minister," said the notification.

Burman is one of the architects of the Bharatiya Janata Party-Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) government, which wrested power in one of the Left citadels, Tripura, for the first time in the 2018 Assembly polls, delivering a humiliating defeat to the Left Front after 25 years.

Seven pro-Burman Congress MLAs had quit the party in 2016 and joined Trinamool Congress before joining the BJP in 2017. IANS