Agartala, Aug 9 (IANS) The ruling BJP will resume fresh talks with its tribal party allies — the Tipra Motha Party (TMP) and the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) — to jointly contest the crucial elections to the Village Committees under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).
A BJP leader said that following directions from the party’s central leadership, the state leaders are working on strategies to jointly contest the elections to the Village Committees, which are equivalent to Gram Panchayats, under the TTAADC.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha will travel to New Delhi on Sunday evening to hold meetings with TMP leaders in the presence of central BJP leaders. The important meeting is likely to be held on Sunday night or Monday. The TMP leaders, including the party supremo Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma, are now camping in Delhi.
“We will talk to the TMP leaders in the presence of our central leaders about the upcoming Village Committee elections. At the moment, I am unable to disclose the details of the meetings or the proposed joint contest in the polls,” CM Saha told the media on Sunday.
The Chief Minister also said that his government was always ready to hold talks with surrendered militants (tribals) regarding their issues, problems and demands. “I am also personally ready to talk with the leaders of the surrendered militants. Our officials are in touch with them. We are always concerned about the issues and problems of all concerned,” he said.
Elections to 587 Village Committees under the TTAADC, along with more than 20 urban local bodies, are scheduled to be held within this year.
In the TTAADC elections held on April 12, the Tipra Motha Party (TMP) secured a sweeping victory, winning 24 of the 28 elected seats.
The BJP managed to win only four seats. The BJP and its two tribal-based allies — the TMP and the IPFT — had contested the polls separately after failing to reach an electoral understanding.
Since 2021, the TMP has governed the strategically significant council, widely regarded as the second most important constitutional and political institution in Tripura after the state Assembly.
The 30-member TTAADC consists of 28 elected representatives and two members nominated by the state government, and it administers nearly 70 per cent of Tripura’s 10,491 sq km geographical area.
Meanwhile, on August 6, the BJP’s central leaders held two separate important meetings with 14 senior state leaders in Delhi and discussed the upcoming Village Committee and urban local body elections, besides other organisational matters. A senior BJP leader in Tripura said, “The central leaders have asked the state leaders to further gear up the party and strengthen the organisation ahead of the crucial elections to the Village Committees and urban local bodies.”
He said that the central leaders also took feedback from the state leaders regarding the functioning of the party organisation and its position ahead of the upcoming elections to the Village Committees and urban local bodies.
The leader said that the New Delhi meetings assume significance in view of the upcoming important elections and the BJP’s strategy regarding electoral alliances with its two tribal party allies.
BJP National President Nitin Nabin, the party’s National General Secretary (Organisation) B.L. Santhosh, BJP’s Northeast coordinator Sambit Patra and the party’s observer for Tripura, Rajdeep Roy, a sitting MLA from Silchar and a former Lok Sabha member from southern Assam, attended the August 6 meeting in the national capital. In all, 14 senior BJP leaders from Tripura, including all members of the party’s core committee, attended the meetings held at the party headquarters.
The state leaders who attended the Delhi meetings included Chief Minister Manik Saha, state President Abhishek Debroy, senior Ministers Ratan Lal Nath, Tinku Roy and Bikash Debbarma, state Assembly Speaker Ram Pada Jamatia, former Chief Minister and sitting MP Biplab Kumar Deb, Rajya Sabha member Rajib Bhattacharjee and former Union Minister Pratima Bhowmik.
–IANS
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