Tripura BJP’s tribal leaders not interested in allying with IPFT for upcoming ADC election

AGARTALA:

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) tribal leaders are no longer interested in allying with the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) for the upcoming Autonomous District Council (ADC) election.

According to a source from the BJP, the party’s tribal leaders, in a letter to State President Manik Saha, advised him against allying with the IPFT.

“The BJP tribal leaders are trying to contest the election on their own,” the source said.

Last week, the IPFT and other regional parties had allied with the Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) led by royal scion Pradyot Manikya Deb Barman ahead of the polls.

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On the condition of anonymity, one BJP MLA said, “All the tribal MLAs and one MP have jointly sent a letter to the State President not to form any coalition with IPFT for the ADC election.”

“They all signed the letter. State President Manik Saha sent it to the leaders in Delhi,” he added.

We may note that the Tripura BJP has ten tribal MLAs and one tribal MP.

“Many things are going on regarding the upcoming ADC elections, but as of now, I cannot disclose anything,” BJP State Vice-President and MLA Ram Pada Jamatia told TNT-The Northeast Today.

“We are on the way to development and peace; those who agree with it can come with us,” he said.

Jamatia, who has been busy visiting the tribal pockets in the state to increase the vote share for his party, claimed that in the last 15 days, over two thousand voters from other parties joined the BJP, including over seven hundred from the IPFT.

Before the assembly election in 2018, the BJP and IPFT allied and contested the polls. In the 2018 assembly election, the BJP won 36 seats and, the IPFT won eight.

This time, the IPFT demanded 22 seats in the ADC elections, which the BJP leaders are unwilling to agree.

(Edited by Mandeep Joshi)