By The Editor
Encouraged by exodus of many MLAs (Members of Legislative Assembly) from
ruling alliance Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – Indigeneous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT)
and with General Assembly Elections knocking at the door in Tripura, opposition parties in
the state are in high spirit and hope that if they are united they will surely be able to
dislodge the BJP-IPFT government. Joint initiative of the Communist Party of India –
Marxist (CPI-M) to bring all secular and democratic forces under one umbrella has reached
its final stage to defeat the BJP in coming Assembly elections due in February 2023. State
secretary of the Left Part, Jitendra Choudhury lamented that democratic values have been
throttled in the state for past 58 months and hence determined not to allow it to continue
further. His feelings are shared by senior Congress leader Sudip Roy Barman and former
royal scion Prodyot Kishore Deb Barman founder of new tribal party TIPRA Motha (TM)
In 2018 Assembly Election, the BJP-IPFT alliance had swept the polls winning 43
seats more than two-third majority in 60-member House thereby ending the 25-year-long
Left rule in the northeastern state (1993-2018). BJP’s share was 35 seats and that of IPFT 8.
The new political party Tipra Motha (TM) which has been recently formed ny Pradyot
Kishore Deb Barman fighting for separate Tipra land for indigenous tribes of Tripura is
now ruling in the 30-member Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC)
and has also appealed to IPFT to join its ranks for common cause. Tribal BJP MLA Diba
Chandra Hrangkhawl’s resignation from Tripura Assembly on December 28 was a big blow
to ruling party and would probably join opposition Congress. Four-term MLA Hrangkhawl
was elected to the Assembly from Karanchara Assembly seat in northern Tripura’s Unakoti
district and was first elected in 1988. In 2016, he and six other MLAs quit the Congress and
joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) but after a year joined the BJP. IPFT MLAs- Mevar
Kumar Jamatia, Brishaketu Debbarma and Dhananjoy – also quit BJP and will join TM.
Clock is ticking fast and hardly two months are left before Tripura goes to the polls
sometime in February 2023 along with Meghalaya and Nagaland. For a brief spell (1988-
1993) Congress was in power in Tripura but its fortunes decreased considerably reducing
to only one, senior Congress leader Sudip Roy Barman who won the bye-election in june
this year. Congress too is eager in overthrowing BJP and is not averse to the proposal of
joining hands with CPI (M) which has 15 MLAs in the Assembly and TIPRA Motha. All India
Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Ajay Kumar is scheduled to visit the state
soon to review party’s preparation for assembly election but undaunted by all these
developments the saffron party is not at all worried because whatever it may be it hopes to
retain power.