© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
TIPRA Motha Saturday night announced a 20-member first candidate list for the upcoming Assembly polls in Tripura after its merger talks with Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) failed. This was after The IPFT announced it would continue its alliance with the ruling BJP and contest five seats in a tie-up between the two parties.
The Motha, Tripura’s newest tribal outfit which had swept the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) polls in 2021, just two months after it was founded, had earlier ruled out any electoral alliance with the BJP-led NDA.
The list announced by Motha president Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl fields former IPFT MLA Brishaketu Debbarma, who shifted to Motha in 2021 from his home turf — Simna ST reserved constituency. The list has Subodh Debbarma at Charilam, where he would contest against Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma.
Interestingly, Motha supremo Pradyot Kishore Debbarma’s name has not made it into the list of announced contestants. Pradyot had earlier dodged questions about whether he would contest the Assembly polls. While Motha sources said a second list of candidates was likely on Sunday, sources close to Pradyot informed that he was not particularly interested in contesting.
The list also has Motha’s TIPRA Citizens Forum member Abu Khayer Miah from Boxanagar senior TIPRA Motha leader and deputy chief executive member of the TTAADC Animesh Debbarma from Asharambari seat. Debbarma had earlier won in 2008 from the adjacent constituency.
After the delimitation a few years ago, the Pramodenagar constituency was rechristened Kalyanpur-Pramod Nagar. Former Congress leader Manihar Debbarma who joined the Motha has been given a ticket from this seat.
Mahendra Debbarma from Krishnapur, Tripura ADC’s chief executive member Purna Chandra Jamatia from Bagma (ST reserved), Harendra Reang from Santirbazar, Arup Demand Hrishyamukh, Gaurav Mog from Jolaibari, Ashiram Reang from Amarpur, Sanjay Manik from Karbook are some of the other members of the list.
Shyamal Sarkar has been named the party’s candidate from Surma (SC reserved) constituency. The seat had fallen vacant after its sitting BJP MLA Ashish Das quit two years ago. He joined Trinamool Congress (TMC) but further moved away from the party. Senior Motha leader Chittaranjan Debbarma has been given a ticket from Ambassa ST reserved seat.
TIPRA Motha spokesperson Paul Dangshu has been selected to contest from Karamcherra, where former BJP MLA Diba Chandra Hrangkhawl, who joined Congress last year, will contest for the Congress. Hangsha Kumar, former opposition leader in Tripura ADC, who quit the BJP to join Motha last year, will contest from Chawmanu.
Apart from these, Bilas Malakar, David Munda and Joychung Halam have been listed by the royal scion-led tribal party to fight from Fatikroy, Chandipur and Panisagar seats respectively. Motha youth leader Hollywood Chakma, who is a close confidant of Motha supremo Pradyot, was named to contest from Pecharthal.
Motha is a relatively new political party and was floated in 2021 with the slogan of ‘Greater Tipraland’ a proposed separate state for tribals in the state. Greater Tipraland is essentially an extension beyond the IPFT’s original slogan of Tipraland, which was also a proposed separate state but only comprising areas within the state’s lone tribal ADC.
While the issue has put Motha’a prospects into a tight spot, the party has claimed it has welcomed thousands of IPFT supporters from across the state and was well set for the polls.
Tripura has 20 Scheduled Tribe (ST) reserved seats in the 60-member Assembly and both Motha and IPFT are considered to have sway among the voters there, the former more than the latter.
However, the first list announced by Motha Saturday has candidates for only 12 of the ST reserved seats. Among the other eight seats, two are SC reserved seats and six are unreserved.
