As many as six out of nine or 67 per cent of the newly inducted ministers in the Tripura cabinet are crorepatis or multi-millionaires, while three out of nine or 33 per cent have criminal cases against them, a report revealed on Friday.

Jishnu Devvarma is the richest minister in the cabinet with assets worth more than Rs 11 crore, followed by Pranajit Singha Roy (Rs 5 crore plus) and Sudip Roy Barman (Rs 3 crore plus). All the three richest ministers belong to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Santana Chakma of BJP -- the only woman minister in the cabinet -- has the least assets with Rs 1.39 lakh.

Three of the nine ministers have declared criminal cases against them. Of these, Ratan Lal Nath and Barman of the BJP have serious criminal charges of attempt to murder against them.

In a positive, as many as seven out of nine or 78 per cent ministers are graduates while the remaining two are post-graduates.

The BJP has formed the government in Tripura for the first time in alliance with the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), ending 25 years of interrupted rule of the Left Front. Biplab Kumar Deb took over as the new Chief Minister.

Outgoing Chief Minister Manik Sarkar of the Communist Party of India Marxist (CPI-M) was found to be the "poorest" Chief Minister in India with just Rs 26 lakh assets, while Deb has declared assets worth more than Rs 2 crore -- the fourth highest in his cabinet.

--IANS

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