Within a few months after the unnatural demise of King Bir Bikram Kishore Debbarman, Tripura faced a great crisis, with threats from internal as well as external forces. Queen Kanchan Prava Devi, as president of the Council of Regency, came under severe pressure to opt to join the Indian Union. On the advice of the Government of India, she dissolved the Council of Regency and became the sole Regent on 12 January 1948. More than a year later, on 9 September 1949, she signed the 'Tripura Merger Agreement', and with effect from 15 October 1949 Tripura became part of Indian Union. It was thereafter administered by the Chief Commissioner as a 'C' Category State.