Agartala:Dissidence among ruling BJP workers against the nomination of candidates across Tripura for the last 24 hours caused the vandalization of party offices, destruction of campaign materials, and demonstration on the street seeking a change of nominees at least in seven constituencies.
The opposition Congress has also faced factional squabble in Kamalpur and Dharmanagar constituencies over the selection of candidates. The workers threatened to leave the party unless the nominees are changed.
The Congress in South Tripura and Sepahijala districts became unhappy with the seat-sharing deal with communists.
The AICC didn’t allow Congress to contest a single seat in South Tripura, and all seven seats of the district along with the most prospective seats in Sonamura of Sepahijala have been given to CPI-M.
As a result, the vote transfer of congress to CPI-M has become uncertain rather provided an extra advantage for the ruling BJP.
Shyamal Bhakta Chowdhury, a BJP ticket aspirant has announced to fight as an independent candidate from Kamalasagar constituency of Sepahijala district.
He alleged BJP State president Rajib Bhattacharjee had promised to give him a nomination and had taken several advantages of Chowdhury over last three years.
The BJP has made West Tripura Zilla Sabhadhipati Antara Deb Sarkar their candidate from Kamalasagar constituency, which triggered a serious reaction in the area.
The angry supporters vandalized several party offices, flags, and festoons soon after the declaration of the candidate.
The party workers threatened to prevent the entry of the BJP candidate into the constituency.
Chowdhury alleged BJP’s nominee in Kamalasagar assembly constituency was an outsider, and she doesn’t know the people.
The party supporters have been demanding a local candidate from the constituency, and it was placed before the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister, and the party president.
Similarly, the BJP supporters of Kadamtala, Bagbasa, Kailashahar, Chandipur, and Bishalgarh have also been demonstrating and seeking a change of candidates.
Allegedly, a section of state BJP leaders nominated outsiders, and controversial, and unpopular individuals in the seats for their vested interest.
Despite knowing a huge anti-incumbency wave against Speaker Ratan Chakraborty, Deputy Speaker Biswabandhu Sen, former Speaker Rebati Mohan Das, Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath, Labour Minister Bhagaban Das, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Manoj Kanti Deb, MLA Surajit Datta, Krishnadhan Das, and Dr Dilip Das party has renominated them, which helped the opposition to garner support against the ruling front.
Meanwhile, the promising tribal leaders of the state BJP were deprived of the nomination, and unwanted people like Patal Kanya Jamatia, Pramod Reang, and Himani Debbarma were given tickets whose winnability is marginal and the rest prospective seats were allocated to IPFT, which also triggered serious resentment in the party rank and file.
