GUWAHATI: The Left and the Congress are coming closer to each other in election-bound Tripura to unseat the ruling BJP but this may not be enough.
The tribe-based TIPRA Motha, which is headed by the royal scion Pradyot Kishore Debbarma, could well emerge as the kingmaker. The TIPRA Motha has not shown any inclination to any party so far.
During his visit to the state on Wednesday, CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury had said the party was ready for seat-sharing adjustments with the Congress as well as the TIPRA Motha.
The CPI-M has been in touch with Congress to seal the deal. However, state Congress chief Birajit Sinha told this newspaper on Thursday “nothing has been finalised yet.” Congress leader Mukul Wasnik was in the state capital Agartala on Thursday, ostensibly to carry forward the alliance talk.
CPI-M state secretary Jitendra Chowdhury said he had a telephone conversation with Wasnik. He said the Congress leader would leave the state on Friday but come again soon.
“We want to thwart the split of anti-BJP votes. If the secular forces remain divided, the BJP will gain and if there is no unity among us, the BJP will rig the elections like the last time using its muscle power,” Chowdhury said.
“We are having dialogues with the Congress as well as the TIPRA Motha. We consider both as secular parties,” he added.
The TIPRA Motha chief Debbarma did not take phone calls. Other leaders of the party refused to comment on the issue of alliance. The BJP said it had no discussion with the tribe-based party.
“We still have our alliance with the IPFT (Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura). We haven’t had any talk with the TIPRA Motha. We are preparing for all 60 constituencies,” BJP spokesman Nabendu Bhattacharya said.
The IPFT, which is another tribe-based party, won eight seats in 2018 and is a component of the BJP-led ruling coalition. In the past year, three of its legislators ditched the party and joined the TIPRA Motha.
Bhattacharya said even if the Congress and the Left come together, they would find no takers.
“They (Left) are weakened and going to lose the polls, so they need alliance. If they were strong enough like before, they would not have sought an alliance. The CPI-M’s position is very bad. The Congress has one-two people,” he added.
Of the 60 seats in the state, 20 are in the tribal areas. These had been traditionally the CPI-M’s strongholds. Now, the CPI-M has virtually lost the space to the TIPRA Motha. It had appointed Chowdhury, a tribal, as its state secretary to try and win back the voters.
The TIPRA Motha holds sway in most of these seats. The BJP is influential in some. These seats will virtually decide the fate of the parties. The Left and the BJP have their support base in the non-tribal seats. The Congress enjoys the support of people in a few urban seats.
By winning 36 seats, the BJP had captured power in 2018, spanking the Left which was in power for 25 years on the trot. However, it faces a challenge this time around. The party’s image took a beating under former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb. The BJP then went into a damage control mode by removing him in May last year.
There is a perception that the BJP may not reach the halfway mark of 30 seats this election and this will make the TIPRA Motha more important. It will lend its support, possibly to the BJP, but not before a hard bargain.