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TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee aims at Tripura in 2023, searches for ally in Oppn camp
Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee said any political party willing to fight the BJP was welcome to join hands with the TMC in Tripura
AGARTALA: The Trinamool Congress has its sights on the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Tripura and intends to come to power in 2023 when the state votes the next government, party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said in state capital Agartala on Monday.
“Our target is to end the misrule of the BJP government and form our government in the state in the next one-and-a-half years,” Banerjee said during a quick visit to the state to capitalise on the controversy over the alleged detention of 23 members of the political consultancy firm founded by Prashant Kishor, Indian-Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC).
Banerjee promised that the TMC will not parachute leaders from Bengal to assume a leadership role if the party comes to power and offered to work with other opposition parties as well.
“Tripura will only rule Tripura and not Bengal,” he said as he appealed to non-BJP political parties including the Left, Congress or others, to join them in their fight against BJP. “Any political party willing to fight against BJP are welcome to join hands with us and we will fight united,” he said.
To be sure, the TMC didn’t have much success in Tripura in 2018 when a coalition of the BJP and Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) dethroned the Manik Sarkar-led Communist Party of India’s (CPI) after 25 years in power.
The BJP’s had a vote share was 43.4%, a shade better than the CPI’s 43.2% but the BJP won a disproportionately higher number of seats; 35 as against the CPI’s 16.
In the same election, Mamata Banerjee’s party fielded 24 candidates for the 60-seat assembly in 2018 who, put together, got less than 7,000 votes; a vote share of 0.3%.
The BJP’s spectacular performance in 2018, however, appears to hold out hope for the TMC, particularly since the BJP had secured a vote share of less than 1.5% after contesting on 50 seats in 2013.
Banerjee claimed that many Tripura legislators were in contact with the TMC leadership in Kolkata, but his party didn’t want to disrupt the government by breaking away their legislators.
Banerjee, who faced protests by BJP supporters during his visit, alleged that his car was also attacked when he was travelling towards Tripurasundari temple in Udaipur, nearly 55 kilometres from Agartala.
“Democracy in Tripura under @BJP4India rule!Well done @BjpBiplab for taking the state to new heights,” Banerjee said in a post as he tweeted a video where people are seen holding BJP flags and hitting his car with sticks. The TMC leader, who is seen as the number two in the party led by his aunt, demanded the chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb resignation.
The BJP rebutted allegations that Banerjee’s car was attacked, saying its political activists didn’t attack anyone.
“Our activists didn’t attack anyone. Their anti-violence protests were in a democratic manner,” said BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharya.
The TMC has been looking at gaining a foothold in Tripura for some time. It was in this context that about two dozen I-PAC members came for a survey to assess the TMC’s potential in the state. But the quiet exercise turned controversial after they were initially not allowed to move out of their hotel, and later booked for violating Covid-19 guidelines.
Soon after, the TMC initially deputed West Bengal education minister Bratya Basu, law minister Moloy Ghatak, MPs Derek O’Brien, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and TMC leader Ritobroto Banerjee to visit the state.
“If they can stop us, let them try. Days of their hooliganism are over. We will fight till our last drop of blood,” Banerjee said on Monday.
