Ahead of Tripura polls, CPI(M) claims to be in talks with TIPRA Motha for seat sharing ‘understanding’

Weeks after the talks were suspended with TIPRA Motha, Chaudhary Tuesday campaigned at Sabroom in South Tripura, where TIPRA Motha didn’t field any candidate, and said, “We are discussing not only with Congress but also with TIPRA Motha. TIPRA Motha has fielded candidates in 40 seats or so. TIPRA Motha chairman called me this morning and said our victory is certain and TIPRA Motha supporters would vote for me. He said he didn’t field a candidate at Sabroom since he would not field any candidate against Jitendra Chaudhury”.

The CPI(M) leader also said that his victory alone would not ensure BJP’s defeat. “The BJP will get defeated for sure but we want to reach an understanding with TIPRA Motha for a much larger number of seats. He (TIPRA Motha chief) asked for some time and said he would get back to me and tell me where Motha has strong candidates and said he would want our support in those seats. He also asked me to make a list of seats in which TIPRA Motha would have to withdraw its candidates. We shall sit and settle things within February 2,” Chaudhury said.

TIPRA Motha chief Pradyot Kishore could not be reached for his comments. However, sources said Motha is not looking for any formal alliance with any party since no party has given any written agreement to Motha. However, sources added that Motha didn’t field any candidate at Sabroom constituency, where Jitendra Chaudhury is contesting since the CPI(M) state chief is a “tiprasa” or a tribal and Motha didn’t want to weaken his winnability by fielding a candidate in the seat.

According to the latest reports, the Left Front parties would be contesting in 47 seats. While CPI(M) will contest in 43 seats, CPI, Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party will fight one each and Congress will field candidates in 13 seats.

The Congress party had initially fielded 17 candidates, four more than the seats allotted to them, but later one of the candidates withdrew his nomination papers. While the partners are now considering how to accommodate the extra seats, Congress has made it clear it would not withdraw its candidates and is hoping its partner will “understand” and “take necessary action”.

Meanwhile, the TIPRA Motha has fielded 42 candidates, including the 20 seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes this year. Whether Motha withdraws any candidate in the next two days is yet to be seen but party insiders said any sort of understanding with the Left is unlikely since they didn’t formally agree with the demand of Greater Tipraland.