Left Front grants one Congress wish, but sticks to 13 seats for it in Tripura, signals won’t give more

With the withdrawal of nominations allowed only till Thursday, the Left Front has now pulled out from 12 seats left originally for the Congress, plus swapped a seat between them. It is also believed to have made it clear to the Congress that there was no question of giving it the extra constituencies it is eyeing.

The Congress said earlier that it would not withdraw any of its 17 candidates, and the Left would have to “understand the Congress’s compulsions” and “take necessary action”.

In a statement announcing that it was withdrawing from 13 seats, the Left Front said these constituencies had been picked for the Congress after detailed discussions between them. “The Congress expressed desire to contest from one SC-reserved seat and sought the Pabiacherra seat. Before the issue could be resolved, the Congress declared its candidates in 17 seats.”

The statement said that as the stalemate still prevailed before the nomination submission deadline, the Left Front had put up candidates in the 13 seats to be shared with the Congress. However, it said, discussions had continued and eventually the CPI(M) had agreed to give the Congress the Pabiacherra SC-reserved seat instead of the Pecharthal constituency it was allotted.

The statement also underlined that it had gone ahead and withdrawn its 13 candidates, including from Pabiacherra, on the basis of these discussions, trusting that the Congress would hold up its end of the bargain.

While no Congress leader was available for comment, late Wednesday evening, state party spokesperson Prashanta Bhattacharjee posted on Facebook: “Somosto somosyar oboshan. Jote kono jot nai. 47:13 (End of all problems. No trouble in partnership. 47:13).”

Confusion regarding what prompted the Congress to press for 17 constituencies in all, despite agreement on 13, remains, with the most talked about reason being that the party was unhappy about the Left Front releasing its list without waiting for the AICC Central Election Committee’s decision, despite a request to do so.

The CPI(M) also hinted that it had not given up hopes of convincing TIPRA Motha to join the alliance. CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury said that he had spoken with Motha chief Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma, and that the latter had promised full support at least for his candidature.

“TIPRA Motha supporters will vote for me. Debbarma said he didn’t put up a candidate against me since he didn’t want to fight against Jitendra Chaudhury,” the CPI(M) leader said, adding that the party would meet on Thursday to further explore a tie-up.

Chaudhary said Debbarma had said he would get back with a list of the Motha’s strong candidates for whom he wants Left support.

While Debbarma could not be reached, party leaders said Motha was firm that it would not have a formal alliance with any party since none had given a written assurance on its Greater Tipraland demand. On Chaudhary, they said, the Motha did not field a candidate against him as the CPI(M) leader was a “tiprasa” or tribal.

Earlier, Debbarma’s intransigence on the statehood demand led the BJP to pull out of talks with the Motha for an alliance. Party leaders insist Debbarma will not compromise on this and would rather sit in the Opposition if need be.