AGARTALA: Fearing the division of anti-BJP votes, the Congress-Left combine in Tripura is seeking to strike a seat-sharing deal with the tribe-based TIPRA Motha.
The Left and the Congress, which forged a pre-poll alliance along with a seat-sharing arrangement, expected the TIPRA Motha to contest the 20 ST seats where the party holds sway but it fielded candidates in 42 of the state’s 60 seats. Twenty-two of the total seats the party is contesting are in non-tribal areas.
The Left fielded candidates in 47 of them and allotted the remaining 13 to Congress. However, the grand old party set up candidates in 17 seats. One opted out later.
In the 42 seats which the TIPRA Motha is contesting, it will face either a Left or a Congress candidate among others. These two parties are worried that the TIPRA Motha’s presence in the poll fray, particularly in the 22 non-ST seats, will split the anti-BJP votes and benefit only the saffron party.
To thwart it, the Left-Congress combine wants the TIPRA Motha to enter into a seat-sharing agreement for the benefit of all.
CPI-M state secretary Jitendra Choudhury confirmed the talks are being held between both sides. He said nothing has been finalised yet.
“Our discussions are on. We spoke even today (Tuesday). They are examining it and so are we. We will see if we can do something before February 2 (last day for withdrawal of nominations),” Choudhury told this newspaper.
State Congress president Birajit Sinha said, “We always had the discussions with TIPRA Motha. If there is an understanding, there will be withdrawal of nominations by some candidates.”
TIPRA Motha chief Pradyot Manikya Debbarma dismissed the reported move for a seat-sharing deal as “incorrect”. He told this newspaper that the party would go it alone.
“We are not making any alliance, formal or informal,” he said.
“However, I have not put up a candidate against Jitendra Choudhury because he is a Tiprasa (belonging to Tripura’s ethnic communities). That’s a personal gesture. I feel he has a certain amount of commitment as an individual,” he said.
“It was the same when Pranab Mukherjee had contested the Presidential election. He was supported by Mamata Banerjee although she was not a part of the UPA. Balasaheb Thakre had supported Pratibha Patil but he was a part of the NDA,” Debbarma added.
The TIPRA Motha is going it alone in the polls after its talks with the BJP failed. It had insisted on a written assurance on the creation of a separate “Greater Tipraland” state but the BJP-led central government refused to give anything in writing.