The BJP and Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) finalised an alliance for the upcoming Tripura Assembly elections, and is waiting for the approval from the party’s national leadership. "Our alliance with the IPFT is almost final. The only issue that we are still waiting for the clearance from our national president, after which we are going to formally announce it in a day or two,” Sunil Deodhar, BJP’s Tripura state in-charge, told The Indian Express on Friday. A delegation of the IPFT headed by its president Narendra Chandra Debbarma attended a meeting late at night Thursday with BJP leaders Himanta Biswa Sarma, Deodhar and BJP Tripura state president Biplab Kumar Deb. IPFT president Debbarma said that only the formal announcement was pending because of the nod from Shah. The two parties agreed on IPFT contesting in 10 of the 20 seats reserved for the Scheduled Tribes in the 60-member House. “We discussed various issues relating to the alliance and have agreed that BJP will leave 10 of the 20 ST seats for us and contest in the remaining 50 seats. We are happy with the agreement,” Debbarma told The Indian Express.Debbarma, however, said that his party was not going to give up the demand for a separate state for Tripura’s tribal communities. “We will not give up demand for a separate state. Our alliance is only for ousting the Left Front,” he said. INPT to go with Congress, TMC The Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) has decided to go with the Congress and Trinamool Congress in the upcoming assembly polls. INPT general secretary Jagadish Debbarma said his party was in the process of finalising seat-sharing with TMC and Congress to oust the Left Front.
