Guwahati: The formation of a new alliance in the northeastern state has the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) national leadership perplexed ahead of the assembly elections in Tripura.
According to reports, the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) and TIPRA Motha, led by royal scion Pradyot Manikya Debbarma, are flirting with the idea of forming collaboration.
With that in mind, it has now come to the fore that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Union home minister Amit Shah sat for a meeting.
Meanwhile, TIPRA Motha is resolute in its quest for Greater Tipraland.
However, the leader of TIPRA Motha, Pradyot Debbarma, reportedly attended the meeting with the Union home minister today in New Delhi as well. While attempting to negotiate for a state within the state, Debbarma maintained the demand for a larger Tipraland.
In a significant milestone ahead of Tripura’s important assembly elections, IPFT, a BJP ally in the state, called a “closed door meeting” with TIPRA Motha party leaders on January 22 in Guwahati.
Reportedly, a merger of IPFT and TIPRA Motha royal scion and former top Congress official Pradyot Manikya Debbarma was reportedly discussed.
Informing about the meeting, Pradyot Debbarma took to twitter and wrote, “Met the IPFT leadership yesterday and asked them to consider becoming one party! Time is short and I hope they do the right thing.”
Assam CM and North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) convenor Himanta Biswa Sarma met Pradyot Debbarma in New Delhi on January 19. Even though Tripura BJP-related issues are being handled by a different team inside the party, CM Sarma attempted to minimise its relevance, according to Pradyot, who said that he made it plain that he will not budge from his demand for a separate state “come what may.”
It should be mentioned that 20 or so of the 60 seats in the Tripura parliament are dominated by tribal groups. The Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) elections were won by TIPRA Motha in 2021.