GUWAHATI: Without showing signs of anxiety following tribal parties’ tactic to join hands for Tripura polls, the BJP on Saturday released the first list of its 48 candidates for the February 16 elections. The list has names of 11 women, including Union minister Pratima Bhowmik, and two Muslim candidates. Some 15 candidates are first-timers. The party’s central leadership finalised the names, sources said.
The list does not have the names of six MLAs – Arun Chandra Bhowmik (Belonia), Biplab Ghosh (Matabari), Subhash Das (Nalchar), Mimi Majumder (Badharghat) Birendra Kishore Debbarma (Golaghati) and Parimal Debbarma (Ambasa). The state has 60 seats and it remains to be seen if they are fielded from other constituencies.
Chief Minister Manik Saha, a dental surgeon, and Bhowmik, who is the Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, are two prominent candidates.Saha will contest from the Town Bordowali seat. In May last year, the BJP had replaced the then chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb with Saha, who was serving as a Rajya Sabha member. Subsequently, he got elected to the Assembly after winning a by-election.
Bhowmik, who rose through the ranks in the party, will contest from the Dhanpur seat. She had lost the last election to the then Chief Minister Manik Sarkar. The CPI-M veteran is not contesting this time.CPI-M legislator Moboshar Ali, who joined the BJP in New Delhi on Friday, has been fielded from his pet Kailasahar seat in northern Tripura. State BJP chief Rajib Bhattacharjee will contest from Banamalipur. Former CM Deb, who is now a Rajya Sabha member, was elected from here in the 2018 polls.
Bhattacharjee said the BJP’s second list of 12 candidates would be announced soon. He said the party was holding talks with ally Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT). The state is ruled by the BJP-IPFT coalition. In the past year, the two parties lost around 10 MLAs to other parties, including tribe-based TIPRA Motha which is influential in the 20 seats reserved for the tribals.
Manik Saha, Chief Minister
Pratima Bhowmik, Union minister
Jishnu Debbarma, Deputy Chief Minister
Rajib Bhattacharjee, State BJP president
Ratan Lal Nath – Minister of Higher Education and Law
Sushanta Chowdhury – Minister of Information & Cultural Affairs
Ram Pada Jamatia – Minister of Tribal Welfare
Pranajit Singha Roy – Minister of Transport
Santana Chakma – Minister of Social Welfare
6 more names out, pact with IPFT ‘continues’
Late Saturday, the BJP released the second list of its six candidates for Tripura elections. In Agartala, the leaders of BJP and its ally the IPFT announced that the alliance between them would continue.