Newsmaker: Meet Pratima Bhoumik, BJP's candidate from Dhanpur seat

The BJP is banking on Tripura's first Union minister and its very own 'Didi' to breach the 'red fort' that has been impregnable since 1972

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) list of candidates for the Tripura Assembly elections threw up a few surprises. Notable among these being the exclusion of Biplab Kumar Deb, who was the party’s first chief minister (CM) in the state, and the inclusion of Pratima Bhoumik, junior minister, social justice and empowerment, in the Union Cabinet.

Bhoumik’s candidacy is of a piece with the BJP’s ‘gender empowerment’ policy, envisaging greater representation of women in every tier of the power hierarchy from the panchayat upwards.

Bhoumik, 52, is contesting from Dhanpur and keeps a punishing schedule. Her day begins at 6 am