Agartala:Ruling out the possibility of forging an alliance or proceeding with the seat-sharing options with the ruling BJP or the opposition formation of Congress and CPI-M, TIPRA Motha of royal scion Pradyot Kishore Debbarman on Tuesday made it clear that they will fight the election to Tripura assembly alone.
“I have repeatedly been reiterating our stand – unless we get the commitment of Greater Tipraland in writing TIPRA Motha would not go with any party. As of now, no party has come up in writing, though supporting the view of a constitutional solution to the problems of indigenous people of the state by Congress and CPI-M, we shall not go with any party as of now,” Pradyot said.
He mentioned that BJP has persuaded him to offer money, power, posts, and many other things to take TIPRA with them. Several rounds of talks with various levels of leaders were held in the past few months but they didn’t agree to support the demand of Greater Tipraland in writing; therefore, the party would announce its candidates at least in 50 seats of 60 members assembly in a couple of days, he stated.
“I will not compromise or betray the indigenous people just to win the elections and walk in the power corridor. We know our demand is legal and constitutional, the central government has to solve the problem of indigenous communities, which they have been facing for decades,” Pradyot asserted, adding that his party will fight for the rights of the indigenous people of the state not to win the election.
He warned his cadres, “It’s painful to hear some people from my party saying that we should go for the alliance as we offered something. I don’t come here for ‘something’ as many poor people who have been deprived for the past 72 years are living with the hope that I will give something to them. I came here for a constitutional solution. Today we are landless and to save our land we need constitutional rights.”
Meanwhile, the seat-sharing deal between CPI-M and Congress has not yet been finalized. The state Congress president Birjit Sinha left for Delhi with the list of their prospective candidates in 23 seats for approval of AICC, which they have been demanding sacrifice from CPI-M. As of now, CPI-M has agreed to share 12 seats in 60 members’ house but Congress is strict to its demand of at least 23 seats.
“We wanted the seats based on the winning prospect and as part of the strategy to defeat BJP. When we are talking about uniting anti-BJP votes, all the stakeholders must understand the sentiment of the voters. However, I am hopeful we shall come to an amicable solution to the seat-sharing very soon,” Sinha told the media before leaving for Delhi.
The ruling BJP has not yet finalised the constituency-wise proposal of the candidates. As many as 20 seats, the party leaders have not been able to come to decide on the candidate names. Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha, Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma, party state president Rajib Bhattacharjee along with in-charge Dr Mahesh Sharma and election observer Dr Mahendra Singh would go to Delhi on Wednesday to attend the BJP parliamentary board meeting, party sources said.
“We shall place the proposed name of the candidates before the board where Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, and other top leaders headed by party president J P Nadda would finalise the candidate for poll-bound Tripura, Meghalaya, and Nagaland and it will be announced immediately after the meeting at Delhi,” party president Bhattacharjee said.
