GUWAHATI/NEW DELHI: The CPM and the Congress are coming closer in election-bound Tripura to unseat the BJP. However, 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 towards any party.
During his recent visit to the state on Wednesday, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury told reporters that the party was ready for seat-sharing with the Congress as well as the TIPRA Motha. The CPM has been in touch with Congress to seal the deal. However, state Congress chief Birajit Sinha told this newspaper, “Nothing has been finalised yet.” Congress leader Mukul Wasnik was in the state capital Agartala on Thursday ostensibly to carry forward the discussions on the alliance.
CPM state secretary Jitendra Chowdhury said he had a telephone conversation with Wasnik. A senior AICC functionary said, “We have already started negotiations with the CPM on seats with a winning possibility. Both sides have an open mind. A lot of activities were happening underground earlier. We are trying to get the organizations to meet each other. The discussion on seats will start tomorrow on the local level. “We want to prevent a split in the 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 in talks with the Congress as well as TIPRA Motha. We consider them secular,” he added. “It is clear the ground reality is not favourable to the BJP in Tripura. Our main narrative will be how the people have been cheated by the BJP. Bringing cine icons like Mithun Chakraborty will not help. It means that they have accepted the fact that the Modi magic will not work,” said MA Baby, CPM Politbureau member. “We have made appeals to adjust with each other to defeat BJP. But it hasn’t taken any shape yet,” said Tapan Sen, a member of the CPM Central Committee. The TIPRA Motha chief Debbarma has refused to take phone calls. The BJP said it has 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 talks with the TIPRA Motha,” said BJP spokesman Nabendu Bhattacharya. The IPFT, which is another tribe-based party, won eight seats in 2018 and formed the government with the BJP which won 36 seats. However, 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 an alliance. The CPM’s position is very bad. The Congress has only a couple of people with it,” he claimed.
