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Tripura Congress attempts to regain its footing ahead of 2023 assembly polls
The Congress secured 45.75 percent votes in 2013 assembly polls but eroded to 1.86 percent in 2018. The party failed to get a single seat in 2019 Lok Sabha polls and civic polls held last year.
AGARTALA: After nearly three decades of being away from government, the Congress is now targeting to regain its footing in Tripura in the coming assembly polls scheduled to be held in 2023.
After leaving the saffron party this February, former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs Sudip Roy Barman and his old associate Asish Kumar Saha moved back to the Congress, the party they had left to join Trinamool Congress (TMC) in 2016. He joined the BJP a year later.
Their comeback, initially, instilled fresh energy among the Congress youth leaders to gear up its organisational activities and also threw a challenge to the ruling BJP, but the party is not yet ready to replace the incumbent government, according to poll watchers.
The Congress secured 45.75 percent votes in 2013 assembly polls and later eroded to 1.86 percent in 2018 as the anti-Left votes were shifted to the BJP. The Congress failed to get a single seat in 2019 Lok Sabha polls and civic polls held last year.
“Looking at the past few elections results, it seems that the Congress has no chance of coming back to power, “ said veteran poll analyst Swapan Bhattacharjee.
A five-term MLA Sudip Roy Barman was given the portfolio of health in chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb’s cabinet in 2018 after the BJP formed its first government in alliance with Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT).
A year later, he was dropped from the cabinet due to his alleged involvement in anti-party activities. Sudip Roy Barman became MLA on Congress ticket four times and once on BJP ticket.
“I urge all (people) to come out of the suffocating situation without any fear. BJP will be washed away in the next year and that’s why, they are creating unrest by making the police administration disabled. Only the Congress can give relief to Tripura as well as the entire country from the situation, “ said Roy Barman.
Launching scathing attack on the BJP, Roy Barman said that the price hike of essential commodities including petrol and diesel, unemployment, drugs, underdevelopment of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) are prevailing in BJP regime.
He also alleged that the BJP government failed to take proper initiatives to waive farmers loan which happened during the UPA regime led by former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.
“Former Prime Minister Dr. Singh had waived farmers’ loan of ₹72,000. And now when the farmers are choosing the path of suicide, we observe that the statue of unity was constructed in Gujarat by investing ₹3,000 crore. When people are dying of starvation, people’s taxes are being used to build Ram Mandir. The BJP is nothing but a poll winning machine. It’s a corporate organisation,” Roy Barman said.
However, political analyst C. Dey predicted negligible possibility of the Congress replacing the saffron party.
“The Congress is yet to form its youth and women wings committees. The Tripura Congress is also facing proper guidance from national leadership. With the absence of these two vital frontal wings and proper guidance, how can they expect to come to power?” Dey said.
The expert feels that the division of anti-ruling votes might help the saffron party to emerge as victorious.
The Trinamool Congress, though attempted to gain ground in the state, is yet to come with a full-fledged committee.
Royal scion Pradyot Kishore Debbarma’s TIPRA Motha has its strong base in the indigenous dominated hamlets so far, he said.
The Congress first formed its government in Tripura in 1963 with Sachindra Lal Singha as chief minister followed by Sukhamoy Sengupta in 1972, Prafulla Kumar Das and Radhika Ranjan Gupta in 1977.
Later, the Congress formed its government in alliance with Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti in 1988 that continued till 1993.
Prafulla Das served as chief minister from April till July 25 and was replaced by Radhika Ranjan who ruled from July 26 till November 4 in 1977.
BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharjee said, “They (Congress) can only dream of coming to power in Tripura. They have been fooling people with this. They can only dream.”
