The demand for more autonomy for Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) has emerged as an issue in the Tripura Lok Sabha elections.
Tripura goes to polls on April 23 for two seats.
The tribal council constitute two third of the state’s total territory where the tribals, who make-up one third of the state’s population live. Tripura’s population is about 36 lakh.
National Conference of Tripura (NCT), has extended support to the BJP in return for consideration of Article 244A of the Constitution for converting the TTAADC into a ‘state within a state´ to provide more autonomy to tribals, NCT General Secretary Animesh Debbarma said.
“For this NCT has signed an agreement with the BJP,” he said.
Spokesperson of the state unit of BJP, Sudhindra Dasgupta said, “we will support the demand because it is within the framework of Constitution.”
Alleging that the state government was not properly allocating funds for the council, Debbarma said the demand was raised for financial autonomy.