TIPRA Motha stands exposed, BJP couldn’t find an East Tripura candidate from the state: Manik Sarkar

“We never had to bring candidates from outside. Even Kirit Bikram Manikya Debbarma and his wife Bibhu Kumari Devi had become MPs. No question was ever raised. It’s surprising the BJP could not find anyone from Tripura to field in East Tripura,” he said at an election programme Ambassa in Dhalai district.

Kriti is married to Yogeshwar Raj Singh, scion of the erstwhile Kawardha Raj royal family in Chhattisgarh, and is also known for her work outside Tripura.

Sarkar also said that a section of Motha supporters had not accepted the party’s alliance with the BJP. He urged people to elect the INDIA candidate, CPM former MLA Rajendra Reang, to help form an alternative government at the Centre. He said that such a government was required to meet people’s demands such as a check on rising prices, minimum support prices for crops and jobs.

Sarkar accused Motha for having helped the BJP to come to power in the 2023 Assembly polls. He said the party had got in return “one and a half ministers”, alluding to the fact that while Motha’s Animesh Debbarma is now the forest minister, Brishaketu Debbarma is a minister of state without a portfolio.

Motha, which was floated in 2021 with the demand of a Greater Tipraland state for tribals, emerged as the principal Opposition in the 2023 polls. However, the party sided with the BJP last month after signing a tripartite agreement with the central and state governments to chalk out an “honourable solution” for problems faced by tribals of Tripura within a timeframe.

Demand to cancel polling in West Tripura

Speaking about the election in the West Tripura constituency, which voted on April 19, Sarkar said that INDIA candidate Ashish Kumar Saha’s polling agents were threatened and that many of the Opposition’s polling agents were either prevented from entering or thrown out of booths.

“That the lowest turnout was recorded in Bihar and the highest turnout in Tripura, where voters could not exercise their franchise freely in the first place. We demand the polling in West Tripura be cancelled and a fresh schedule for polling be announced for the seat. Till now, the Election Commission has not replied,” he said.

The CPM politburo member urged voters not to allow a repeat of the “experience in West Tripura” on April 26.

‘PM Modi silent on inflation and jobs’

Sarkar also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while unveiling the BJP’s election manifesto, never talked about inflation, problems of youth or minimum support prices for crops.

Referring to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has switched over to the BJP camp, Sarkar said that those who unsuccessfully tried to create problems in the INDIA bloc had quit the alliance. He added that the Opposition alliance was going strong despite the desertion by a few parties.