Agartala, Feb 13 (Representative) The opposition CPIM on Tuesday revealed that they have initiated discussions with Congress for an alliance in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections but have yet to take any shape, said CPIM Tripura State Secretary Jitendra Chaudhury while talking to the media after holding the party’s crucial state committee meeting. Reiterating the state CPIM’s stand to remain in the India alliance, he said the state Congress leaders were requested to engage with their central leadership to ensure the consolidation of anti-BJP votes and avoid vote splitting. However, no discussions have yet been held so far with the principal opposition TIPRA Motha party. The CPIM and Congress have been in alliance since the last assembly election in the state but could not make any significant impact because the tribal, once strong, hold of leftists hase eroded badly and voters switched over to royal scion Pradyot Kishore Debbarman’s TIPRA Motha.
The CPIM secured 11 seats, and Congress won only three, but TIPRA Motha captured as many as 13 seats in the 60-member assembly. Later, in the by-election, the CPIM lost another seat to the BJP, which reduced the strength of the CPIM-Congress combine to 13 and increased the BJP’s count to 33, and its ally IPFT was represented in one seat. Meanwhile, BJP sources claimed that TIPRA Motha is set to join the BJP-IPFT alliance, and negotiations have already reached the final stage. Moreover, about 8000 voters from all the opposition parties, mainly CPIM, have joined the BJP in the last month, and in the tribal areas, the BJP has become the first preference due to relentless corruption and poor development in tribal autonomous district council areas (ADC) under Motha.
However, TIPRA Motha’s aggressive attitude in the communal line has hostile the BJP leaders of Tripura, and they are not in favour of any alliance with Motha, arguing that the BJP’s proximity with TIPRA and especially with Pradyot Kishore will have a negative impact on common saffron supporters, which will no way help the BJP, argued a senior leader of the state BJP. “Pradyot Kishore himself abused the Prime Minister, Home Minister, and senior leaders of the BJP without any reason, and he always pursues divisive politics between tribal and non-tribal, which the BJP never endorses or accepts. At this stage, the BJP’s strength and support among the tribals are greater than any other party,” the leader claimed.