AGARTALA Tripura’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) on Saturday decided to continue with their alliance for the upcoming state polls, the two parties said on Saturday.
The BJP also released a list of candidates for 54 of the state’s 60 seats, leaving five for IPFT, which contested on nine seats in the last election.
The alliance announcement came against the backdrop of speculation over the IPFT’s political course of action, with the Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) Motha’s chief Pradyot Kishore Deb Barma urging the party to merge with them. The IPFT contested the Lok Sabha polls and the panchayat polls in 2019, and the district council polls in 2021 alone despite being a part of the BJP-led coalition government in Tripura.
“We contested the assembly polls in 2018 together and formed the government. Our alliance will continue for the 2023 assembly polls,” chief minister Manik Saha said.
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{{/usCountry}}The IPFT said they were confident of forming the government with the BJP this time also. “Our party decided to continue our alliance with the BJP. We are hopeful to form government again in 2023 with majority seats,” IPFT’s youth wing leader Suklacharan Noatia said.
The BJP currently has 36 legislators in the state assembly and the IPFT four.
Reacting to the tie-up, Deb Barma tweeted: “All the ipft leaders are surprisingly not picking up their calls ! Been waiting to hear from them since 11 am ! Looks like Operation lotus is on.” He added that IPFT supporters were now extending support to his party.
“Many calls coming from everywhere ! Reports of thousands of IPFT supporters joining us,” he tweeted.
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The IPFT contested the last polls with the demand for Tipraland, a separate state for the region’s tribal population, as its main plank.
The BJP maintained that they don’t support the demand. “ The IPFT has been with us for the last five years. We never discussed Tipraland with them. And we don’t support the Greater Tipraland demand,” BJP state president Rajib Bhattacharya said.
BJP fields 54 candidates
The BJP fielded chief Minister Saha from Town Bordowali and Union minister Pratima Bhoumik from Dhanpur as it released its list of 54 candidates for the February 16 polls. Former chief minister Biplab Deb, who was replaced by Saha as the state’s chief minister last May, was not fielded.