How two veterans of many a battle between CPM, Congress in Tripura are steering their new ties

There is another reorientation that Chaudhury — who is also a tribal leader, in another plus — has brought since he took over in 2021. He has shown a flexibility to reach out to parties beyond the traditional Left Front, unlike some of his comrades. And it was he who took the initiative to call upon non-Left parties to join hands against the BJP this year, eventually leading to the seat-sharing arrangement with the Congress.

Many were rendered unhappy within the party and, a whisper campaign suggested that Sarkar too was among them, and had hence opted out of the contest. (Sarkar said he was working whole-heartedly for the partnership, in an interview to The Indian Express.) However, once the CPI(M) high command – battered by successive poll defeats — backed Chaudhury, he had his all-clear.

While the talks with royal scion Pradyot Kishore’s TIPRA Motha were not successful, when it comes to Chaudhury personally on his seat, the tribal party has assured full support to him.

The Congress Tripura chief, 71-year-old Birajit Sinha, is one of the rare leaders of the party in the state who has never switched sides – which means that his entire political life has been spent fighting the Left in Tripura. A minister in the 1988-93 Congress-TUJS coalition government, an MLA several times, and the Tripura chief of the party since 2019, apart from previous terms in the post, it was Sinha and a few other leaders like Sudip Roy Barman who took the lead in the Congress forging an understanding with the Left. Reduced to 0 seats in 2018, with its dependable vote share of 45 per cent falling to less than 3 per cent, the Congress actually had few alternatives.

Chaudhury, who insists that it is not an alliance but an “arrangement” with the Congress, admits there are teething problems, “differences of ideologies and organisation”. The Left Front and Congress have released separate poll manifestos, though with many commonalities, while the promised Common Minimum Programme is yet to materialise.

However, Chaudhury says what is important is that they are determined to work together due to “the unprecedented situation” that has developed under the past five years of BJP rule, “with the rule of the law and the Constitution at stake”.

“The BJP has denied the people their Constitutional rights, dismantled all Constitutional institutions. As democratic and secular parties, we can’t remain aloof. Defending democracy and Constitutional order are the first and foremost duties of any patriotic Indian,” Chaudhury says.

Congress leader Sinha agrees, saying: “We are together unconditionally and our only aim is to defeat the BJP. That’s all.”

Sinha claims that in the past four years, the Congress and CPI(M) have both faced violence from BJP cadres. According to him, while 44 Congress offices have been bulldozed and forcefully re-occupied, over 400 CPI(M) offices have suffered the same fate. He calls their alliance a united front “against hooliganism and religious fanaticism”, with people’s support.

Chaudhury admits there will be problems, especially given the long and bloody rivalry between the CPI(M) and Congress in Tripura. “They have been contenders forever. But we have joined hands responding to the call of the time and the need to safeguard the freedom of the people.”

He claims they are getting a good response. Unlike earlier when they had to appeal to voters for support, he says, “the people have now created a conducive ambience for all secular and democratic forces to come together and thwart the BJP”.

A CPI(M)-Congress government, Chaudhury adds, would be a “Jonogoner Sarkar (people’s government)”, and show the rest of the country that the BJP can be defeated. The two parties are claiming the BJP will be reduced to “single-digit numbers”.

Birajit Sinha also claims that while the Left and Congress have been adversaries for long, they have ironed out their differences for the larger cause, and that the people appreciate this. One of his main tasks is calming apprehension in Congress ranks that the vote transfer might not work out proportionately between it and the CPI(M).

For now, despite the BJP scoffing that the people can see through the hypocrisy of the Left-Congress partnership, joint meetings by the two have started pulling crowds. The two parties claim that they are deliberately not going for big rallies, and focusing on small, street-corner meetings, as well as meetings at homes in courtyards, and padyatras. The national leaders of the two parties might come in the last leg of campaigning, sources said.

This is in contrast to the BJP’s campaign, with its slew of national leaders and 40 star campaigners.