Guwahati: The contest between Sudip Roy Barman of the Congress and Papia Datta of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the coveted 6-Agartala seat in Tripura’s Assembly elections has become a flashpoint for the party’s candidates.
Barman, a six-time MLA from Agartala left the Congress in 2018 and joined the BJP.
He has never lost before, but with strong support from the saffron party, Papia Datta is convinced he can end the curse and make history.
Speaking to the media Sudip Roy Barman said, “BJP doesn’t believe in democracy…they believe in muscle power and money power.”
The Congress leader further claimed that the BJP was preventing voters from getting to the polls. Despite the numerous events that have been recorded, Congress is confident that it will win with an overwhelming majority.
“The Congress-CPI(M) alliance will win seats more than the requisite numbers,” he added.
On the other hand, first-time candidate of the saffron party from the Agartala Constituency Papia Datta said, “From the first day itself when I got the ticket what I have seen among the voters is the urge of freedom from the left government.”
The BJP candidate further stated that she is more than certain that she will win the election with a majority.
Speaking on Sudip Roy Barman’s stronghold in the Agartala Constituency, the BJP leader said, “There is no challenge at all, if a candidate keeps on changing its party for its own political interest then how can people trust him with the vote.”
The BJP leader further asserted that the fact that more than 1,000 persons were killed in political murders committed during the time of the Congress-CPI(M) unholy alliance will be difficult for the people of Tripura to accept.
“This time the people have trusted me and given me confidence that all the votes will be for the saffron party,” she added.
One may recall a similar conflict between the Congress and the BJP following the 2019 election in Amethi.
Rahul Gandhi fought the BJP’s Smriti Irani hard, but the fiery right-winger prevailed against the Amethi-born Congress President.
With her triumph over Rahul Gandhi and the Congress, which had been a Congress stronghold for over four decades, BJP leader Smriti Irani made political history.
Even Smriti’s supporters did not believe the difference would be greater than 55,000 votes, despite the fact that the race between Rahul and Smriti was anticipated to be tight.
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi was defeated by Smriti Irani by 55,120 votes. Rahul Gandhi only received 4,13,394 votes, compared to Smriti Irani’s 4,68,514 total.