GUWAHATI: Tripura Health Minister Sudip Roy Barman, who was dropped from the ministry on Friday night for alleged activities against his party BJP, said he could satisfy everyone with his performance except for Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb.
“It is the prerogative of the CM to drop a minister. However, I gave my best in the past 14-15 months when I served as the Minister for Health and three other departments. I could satisfy people with my performance except for the CM,” Barman told The New Indian Express.
He said he should have been told why he had been dropped from the ministry.
READ MORE | Tripura Health Minister Sudip Roy Barman dropped for 'anti-party activities'
“If I was involved in anti-party activities, wasn’t it the duty of the party leadership to serve a show-cause notice on me? Is it not my right to know the charges against me? Should I not be heard? I also may have something to say,” Barman said.
He asserted that he is a disciplined soldier of the party and it was evident from the BJP candidate polling more than 8,000 votes over the nearest rival in his constituency in Parliamentary elections.
“What more proof do they want from me about my commitment to the party? It is they who did not involve me in Lok Sabha poll campaign…I will not defect to any other party. I will keep working sincerely in my party,” Barman added.
The 55-year-old is a five-time MLA who spent long years in the Congress. During the previous Left Front regime in the state, he was the leader of Opposition and president of Pradesh Congress Committee. He joined the Trinamool Congress in 2016 and then defected to the BJP with a group of Congress MLAs a year later.
After the Parliamentary election results were declared, CM Deb had told reporters that the BJP managed to win the state’s both seats despite conspiracies hatched by the “enemies inside BJP”. He had warned of action against the conspirators.