New Delhi/Guwahati
Formed by erstwhile royal Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarman, Tipra Motha with 13 seats has become the second largest party in Tripura after the BJP, which just scraped through the majority mark of 31 seats on its own.
At 32 seats, the BJP’s tally is four seats less than in 2018. But had it not been for its own performance, it would have been needing support to return to power in the State as its ally, the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), got almost wiped out. The tribal outfit could win just 1 seat, compared to the 8 seats it won in 2018.
Clearly, tribals deserted it en masse shifting their allegiance to Tipra Motha. The death of IPFT chief Narendra Debbarma in January this year just ahead of elections also seems to have played a major role in the shift.
The BJP had replaced Biplab Deb with Dr Manik Saha to beat the anti-incumbency. Whether it will retain Saha at the helm or go with a new face like former Union Minister Pratima Bhowmik, who was fielded from Dhanpur and who won, will be known in the next few days.
While the Left could win only 11 seats, the Congress managed only three seats. Despite the hype, the Trinamool Congress could win a single seat.
“We will continue to fight with our core demand of constitutional solution to the issues of tribals in Tripura. We have emerged as the second largest party in just two years of existence. We were hoping to win few more seats But 13 is not a bad figure,” Pradyot told news channels.
The Tipra Motha chief didn’t reject the option of joining the Government when asked whether his party will be in the opposition. “It is upto the BJP to think whether we should be in opposition or not,” he asserted.
The BJP’s move remains to be seen, especially against the backdrop of IPFT’s dismal showing and the need for a new tribal ally. But then, the BJP has made it very clear it is ready to accept all the demands of Tipra Motha except the one for Greater Tipraland.
Pradyot had launched the Tipra Motha in 2019 and in 2021 it was clear that it was a force to reckon with when it won the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council poll. Tipra Motha won 18 seats, the BJP 10 and the IPFT nil. The TTAADC covers nearly two-thirds of the state and tribals constitute 90 per cent of its population.
The BJP’s wins in Tripura and Nagaland and its rejoining of hands in Meghalaya with Congrad Sangma’s NPP to form the next government continue to ensure its strong presence in the northeast and will hold good for the party in the half-a-dozen Assembly elections to be held this year and in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls in 2024.
The BJP’s win in the States with strong tribal presence also proves that the party’s continued focus on the Scheduled Tribes community is paying dividends. It paid off in Gujarat where it won 24 of the 27 tribal seats. It has paid off in the northeast as well now.
