2 months after stepping down as Tipra Motha chief, Pradyot now in party’s policy-making body

In a social media post, Pradyot Kishore wrote, “I am indeed honoured and I will do my duties to strengthen and constitute the party from primary, regional, block, district and central committee in the next few weeks.”

The development comes after a section of Tipra Motha leaders left the party last week alleging that the Motha has been operating without sufficient organisational committees at the grass-root level.

On September 12, the Tipraland State Party (TSP), a Tripura-based regional party that merged with other entities to form the Motha in 2021, broke away and re-emerged as the TSP blaming the Motha for failing to deliver on its core agenda of Greater Tipraland.

Announcing the split, senior TSP leader Sridam Debbarma said the party was revived to offer a better future to tribals in Tripura. He also accused Tipra Motha of failing to organise any major movement since the conclusion of the party’s plenary session in July.

TSP leader Dinesh Debbarma said the Tipra Motha party is functioning without any basic organisational structure, or state-level executive committee, and has only a ragtag state body, and district and block committees.

Dinesh Debbarma also expressed anguish at the way the Motha was holding talks with different political parties on political and electoral issues.

Reacting to the exit of the TSP, Pradyot Kishore said TSP leaders who were not given tickets in the 2023 Assembly elections left the party.

The Tipra Motha was formed in 2021 under Pradyot Kishore after the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) Tipraha, a breakaway faction of the state’s ruling alliance partner IPFT, Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT), Nationalist Congress of Tripura, Tipraland State Party (TSP), Tripura People’s Front, and a host of other regional tribal parties and tribal organisations merged over the demand of ‘Greater Tipraland’.

Soon after its formation, the Motha swept the TTAADC polls, defeating both the CPI(M), which held the tribal council for 1.5 decades, and the BJP.

The Motha’s robust electoral performance continued in the 2023 Tripura Assembly polls as well. The party contested 44 seats and won 13 seats in the 60-member House, becoming the prime Opposition party in the state Assembly.