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With Tripura’s prime Opposition TIPRA Motha joining the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Thursday, two party legislators will soon be a part of the Manik Saha cabinet – Animesh Debbarma and Brishaketu Debbarma. Here’s a look at the two TIPRA Motha leaders:
Animesh Debbarma
Animesh Debbarma, 54, has been the Leader of the Opposition in Tripura since 2023 when the TIPRA Motha emerged as the prime Opposition in the state after the Assembly elections.
Born in Rajnagar village in Tripura’s Khowai district in 1970, Animesh does not hail from a big political family. A computer science engineer by profession, he worked as a scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and as an engineer with the Indian Oil Corporation in Mumbai.
Animesh quit his corporate career and returned to Tripura where he joined the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT), then led by rebel-politician Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl. Animesh contested from the Asharambari Assembly constituency in 2003 against CPI(M) heavyweight and former minister Aghore Debbarma, defeated him and started his legislative career.
In 2006, Animesh quit INPT and floated his party, the National Conference of Tripura (NCT), along with some other disgruntled members of the tribal party. His debut legislative stint ended in 2008 as he failed to win the Assembly elections held that year.
While he was seen allying with Congress for several subsequent polls, without much success, Animesh teamed up with INPT to merge and float the TIPRA Motha party under royal scion-turned-politician Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma in 2021. Pradyot had just resigned as state Congress president and was looking at promising political leaders to stand with his demand of Greater Tipraland – a proposed separate state for tribals of Tripura.
Two months after the TIPRA Motha was floated, the party contested the general elections to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) and swept the polls. Animesh won the Kulai-Champahower seat of the tribal council and rose to become the deputy chief executive member, a post considered equivalent to deputy chief minister in the ADC.
Two years on, the TIPRA Motha contested its first-ever Assembly election in February 2023 and emerged as the prime Opposition party. Animesh contested from his home turf Asharambari Assembly constituency and won with a massive margin of over 18,000 votes – a big deal in Tripura where seats are often decided with a margin of below a thousand votes.
Animesh was appointed the leader of the Opposition and has raised different issues in the Assembly, along with the Congress and CPI(M).
Brishaketu Debbarma
Brishaketu Debbarma, 47, is a former Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) MLA. He was with the IPFT for nearly four years before he quit and contested the Assembly elections on a TIPRA Motha ticket.
Brishaketu is a BA (Law) and LLB (Honours) graduate and used to practice law before his debut in politics from the Simna tribal-reserved Assembly constituency in 2018. Brishaketu used to be a member of the IPFT, which is now a ruling alliance partner of the BJP in the Tripura state government.
He represented the Simna seat for nearly three years before offering to quit the Assembly in 2021 when he quit IPFT and joined TIPRA Motha. Brishaketu was, however, officially dropped from his MLA post only in 2022, months before the Assembly elections in 2023, when he contested with a Motha ticket and won a second term in the House.
Tripura has 60 members in the state Assembly – 32 MLAs are from the BJP, 13 from TIPRA Motha, 10 from CPI(M), three from Congress and one from BJP’s ruling alliance partner IPFT. One seat is vacant after the death of BJP MLA Surajit Dutta last year. Nine of the 12 seats in the state cabinet are currently occupied, with eight BJP ministers and one IPFT member. Even after the two TIPRA Motha MLAs join the cabinet, one berth will remain unoccupied.
Tripura has 60 members in the state Assembly – 32 MLAs are from the BJP, 13 from TIPRA Motha, 10 from CPI(M), three from Congress and one from BJP’s ruling alliance partner IPFT. One seat is vacant after the death of BJP MLA Surajit Dutta last year. Eleven of the 12 seats in the state cabinet are now occupied, with eight BJP ministers, two TIPRA Motha ministers and one IPFT member. One berth is unoccupied.
