Agartala, March 3 (IANS) The second BJP-led government is likely to assume office in Tripura on March 8, outgoing Chief Minister Manik Saha said on Friday after submitting his resignation letter to Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya in the Raj Bhavan here.

Saha while talking to the media said that the new BJP government is likely to assume office on March 8 when the Chief Minister and other ministers take oath. Newly elected members of BJP would meet here soon to finalise the necessary formalities, he said.

BJP sources said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a host of Central ministers, including Home Minister Amit Shah and leaders and Chief Ministers of several BJP ruled states would attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new council of ministers.

"Saha likely to continue as Chief Minister in the second BJP government," a senior BJP leader told IANS.

Saha was re-elected from the Town Bordowali seat for the second time after defeating his nearest Congress opponent Ashish Kumar Saha by a margin of 1,257 votes.

Manik Saha was first elected to the state Assembly in the bypoll held in June last year by defeating Ashish Kumar Saha with a margin of 6,104 votes.

The 70-year-old BJP leader, who was also the state unit chief of the BJP and Rajya Sabha member for a brief period, took oath as the Chief Minister in last year's May 15, a day after former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb resigned from the top post following the direction of the BJP's central leaders.

The BJP-led government first came to power in Tripura in the 2018 Assembly polls, thrashing the CPI(M)-led Left Front after 25 years (1993-2018).

The BJP retained power in Tripura for the second straight term by winning 32 seats, one more than the magic figure of 31 in the 60-member state Assembly, for which elections were held on February 16.

The tribal-based Tipra Motha Party (TMP), which for the first time contested 42 seats on its own, emerged as the second largest party securing 13 seats. The CPI(M) won 11 seats while the Congress bagged three.

The CPI(M)-led Left Front, which contested the elections in a seat-sharing arrangement with the Congress, had fielded 47 candidates while 13 seats were allotted to the Congress.

BJP ally Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) won the Jolaibari seat in southern Tripura.

In the 2018 Assembly polls, the BJP had won 36 seats, its ally IPTF bagged eight seats while the CPI(M) had secured 16 seats.