Barely halfway into its term in power, differences in the Tripura unit of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have reached Delhi, with some party legislators camping in the national capital to meet the central leadership and complain against chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb’s performance.
A delegation of nine legislators, including Sudip Roy Barman, Asish Saha, Sushanta Choudhury, Ramprasad Pal and Diba Chandra Hrankhawl are currently in New Delhi.
Choudhury said that the delegation is hopeful of meeting BJP national president JP Nadda and other organizational leaders to discuss the current situation in Tripura; the legislators also plan to seek an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah.
“Neither the government nor the party is moving in the right format, as it should be. All the pre-poll promises, mentioned in the party’s Vision Document, are made to be fulfilled. These should be reflected in action, but we are far away from reality. We want to highlight to the top leaders about all that is happening in the state,” said Choudhury. He didn’t mention specifics.
Choudhury didn’t say whether the lawmakers want Deb to be removed from the chief minister’s post.“We will highlight the developments in Tripura. The rest will be decided by the top leaders if they want to intervene in this issue,” he said. He said the chief minister should be friendlier with party legislators.
{{/usCountry}}Choudhury didn’t say whether the lawmakers want Deb to be removed from the chief minister’s post.“We will highlight the developments in Tripura. The rest will be decided by the top leaders if they want to intervene in this issue,” he said. He said the chief minister should be friendlier with party legislators.
{{/usCountry}}“Our fight is not against BJP ideology. We have full faith in the dynamic leadership of the Prime Minister and the home minister,” said Choudhury.
Choudhury was elected a member of the Tripura assembly for the first time as a BJP candidate in 2018.
He and Roy Barman were among the Congress leaders who joined the party in 2017. After the BJP and the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) came to power in the state, Roy Barman was entrusted with the health portfolio. But he was removed from his ministerial position in June last year. The health portfolio is currently with the CM.
In August, Roy Barman was booked and a first information report lodged against him for paying an unauthorized visit to a Covid-19 care centre in Agartala although he entered the facility wearing personal protective equipment (PPE). BJP’s Tripura president Dr Manik Saha could not be reached over the phone and party spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharjee declined to comment on the issue.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) veteran leader Bijan Dhar said: “This is BJP’s internal matter. We will not comment on this issue.” Congress’ Tripura vice president Tapas Dey said, “This is BJP’s internal matter. But the fact is that the state didn’t see any implementation of BJP’s pre-poll promises in the past two years.”