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Prime Minister’s Additional Press Secretary Atikur Rahman Ruman confirmed the matter.

Later in the day, a gazette notification was issued, stating that the president had accepted the resignation.

In the resignation letter, 63-year-old Dipen said he had been suffering from various physical complications since assuming office.

“Due to my illness, I have faced difficulties in carrying out the regular duties of the ministry,” he wrote.

“I consider it necessary to resign from my current position in the interest of the development of the current government and to increase the dynamism of administrative work,” the letter said.

Following the resignation, his supporters in Rangamati staged a demonstration and blocked a road in front of the district BNP office in the afternoon, demanding withdrawal of the resignation.

Leaders and activists of BNP, Mahila Dal, Chhatra Dal and other affiliated bodies joined the hour-long protest around 5:00pm. The blockade halted traffic, leaving vehicles stuck on both sides of the road. Traffic returned to normal after the protest ended around 6:00pm.

According to BNP leader Saiful Islam Bhutto, Dipen’s resignation is a major setback in the efforts to build a “rainbow nation” involving both hill and Bangalee communities.

“Dipen Dewan is not physically ill. I have travelled with him in remote areas for a long time, but I have never seen him weak or sick,” said Saiful, vice president of BNP’s Rangamati district unit.

“Some BNP leaders are trying to create an unstable situation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts by misleading the prime minister and giving false information,” he added.

Local BNP leaders said Dipen Dewan’s resignation came as a surprise to them.

They said the resignation may have stemmed from internal disagreements over the ministry’s operation, control of Rangamati politics, and the appointment of administrators to the district councils in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

The Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs mainly deals with the three hill districts, which together have three parliamentary constituencies. BNP candidates won all three seats, Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban, in the national election.

Dipen Dewan did not speak to the media immediately after submitting his resignation. This correspondent tried to reach him throughout the day over the phone and text messages, but he did not respond.

Advocate Dipen Dewan, a former senior joint district judge, left government service in 2005 and joined BNP politics. Khaleda Zia was prime minister at the time.

Dipen’s father, Subimal Dewan, was the indigenous affairs adviser to BNP founder and former president Ziaur Rahman. Subimal was also the founding general secretary of BNP’s Rangamati district unit.

In 2010, Dipen was elected president of the Rangamati district BNP. In 2016, he was made BNP’s central assistant religious affairs secretary, a post he still holds.

Dipen contested a parliamentary election for the first time on February 12 and defeated UPDF-backed independent candidate Pahel Chakma by 169,066 votes.

After BNP formed the government under Tarique Rahman’s leadership on February 17, Dipen was given charge of the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs.

Mir Mohammad Helal Uddin, a member of parliament from Chattogram-5, Hathazari, is serving as the state minister for the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs. He is also the state minister for land.