Discontent with leadership brews in Tripura Congress over Left’s bypoll move

The by-elections will be held for the Boxanagar and Dhanpur Assembly seats in Sepahijala district on September 5. They were necessitated by the death of CPI(M) MLA Samshul Haque of Boxanagar and the resignation of Pratima Bhoumik of the BJP from Dhanpur who wished to remain the Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment.

Sinha said Dhanpur — which used to be the home turf of former CM Manik Sarkar of the CPI(M) till he stepped down and made way for Kaushik Chanda in February — was an “important constituency”. He said it would be tough for anti-BJP parties to win the seat without the support of TIPRA Motha, which secured 8,000 votes there in February. He also said the Left Front had announced its candidates in both seats hurriedly even though Motha secured nearly 4,000 votes in Boxanagar as well. As most Tripura seats historically see close fights, his indication that Motha should be included in the alliance was clear.

In a sharp dig at the decisions of the incumbent state Congress leadership, Sinha said, “It would have been better if the Left had announced its candidates after more discussions. They did this once earlier too when they unilaterally announced candidates for 47 seats in the February Assembly polls, which they had fought in a strategic alliance with the Congress. But the Congress has now tied a knot with them… and has no way of coming out of it. I don’t know what will happen, but there will be a tough fight.”

On the rumours that he is looking for options outside the Congress, the four-term MLA said, “That’s propaganda. Some misinformation was also spread earlier that I would join the Trinamool Congress. I want to clarify that I have not thought of leaving the party. Yes, there is some discontent (in me)… That’s natural, because unfortunately, the party leadership has been handed over to people who had pledged to free Tripura of the Congress, demolished 44 Congress offices, filed complaints against three Congress offices… some of whom had even defected to become MLAs and ministers when the BJP won power… The Congress is not safe in their hands.”

He also added that the party’s Tripura leadership was now in the hands of people who allegedly “insulted pictures of Indira Gandhi in public, attacked Congress party offices in the early 1990s when former CM Radhika Ranjan Gupta was the party chief, vandalised photos of Mahatma Gandhi, and hurled shoes at images of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi…”

Former MLA and senior Congress leader Ashish Kumar Saha is the incumbent state unit president. Saha was promoted to the position in June after Birajit Sinha, who led the state unit since September 2021, stepped down.

Saha, 63, has won three elections to date from the Town Bardowali Assembly seat on the outskirts of Agartala, the last of which was in 2018, on a BJP ticket. After a series of disputes with former CM Biplab Kumar Deb, he resigned along with former minister Sudip Roy Barman. He returned to the Congress earlier in January and pledged to do everything necessary to dislodge the BJP from power.

Sinha’s comments come shortly after oblique criticism from other Congress frontal organisations over the Left Front’s decision. The state chief of Congress’s student wing NSUI, or National Students’ Union of India, Samrat Roy wrote on social media, “Bhora kolshi kanhe kore Melar Mathe gelo, sei kolshi kha kore Post Office Chowmuhani te phirlo (They went to the fairground with a full pitcher, but returned to Post Office Chowmuhani with an empty one). No Sacrifice.” The Melar Math (fairground) in Agartala is where the CPI(M) state headquarters is located. The state Congress headquarters is at Post Office Chowmuhani.

Saha did not react to the discontent within party ranks. On Monday, reacting to the Left’s decision, the Congress leader said, “…one day after the (alliance) discussion, the Left Front suddenly announced its candidates yesterday. It would have been better if the decision had been taken after clearing it with all opposition parties. We have informed our high command about the situation. Once they give us the necessary instructions, we’ll act accordingly.”

Meanwhile, sources said the TIPRA Motha leadership was holding discussions on how to respond to the Left’s move. Though Dhanpur and Boxanagar are seats where the CPI(M) has traditionally been strong, it will be tough for the Communists to take on the BJP alone.