Tripura CPI(M) Claims ‘Joint Initiative’ to Defeat BJP in Final Stages

GG News Bureau

Agartala, 27th Dec. The CPI(M)’s joint initiative to bring all secular and democratic forces together ahead of the Tripura Assembly elections to defeat the BJP has reached its final stage, according to the Left party’s state secretary Jitendra Choudhury on Tuesday.

Choudhury, however, did not name the parties who will be involved in the CPI(M)’s move.

“Details of the joint initiative will be made known very shortly. It is aimed at defeating the BJP in the Assembly elections due in February,” he said.

However, the senior leader stated that the initiative should not be viewed as a political adjustment or alignment.

“For the CPI(M), win or defeat in elections doesn’t matter much. We are working hard to restore democracy in the state where democratic values have been throttled in the past 58 months of BJP rule,” Choudhury said.

The BJP and the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) fought together in the 2018 Assembly elections, unseating the Left Front.

The party’s priority is to restore democracy and create an environment where the electors could exercise their democratic rights freely, he said.

“We are exploring all possibilities to ensure defeat of the BJP in the 2023 assembly elections but no final decision (about alliances) has been taken yet,” said a senior Congress leader who doesn’t wish to be quoted.

Sudip Roy Barman, a senior Congress leader, announced in September that the party will go to any length to defeat the BJP in the 2023 elections, an affirmation that was interpreted as extending a hand to the CPI(M) and the new tribal party TIPRA Motha, led by former royal scion Prodyot Kishore Deb Barman.

Ajay Kumar, general secretary of the AICC, is set to arrive in the poll-bound state on Tuesday evening to assess the party’s preparations for the assembly election.

According to AICC secretary Szarita Laitphlang, he will attend two programs, one in Kailashahar, Unakoti district, and the other in Agartala.

Assuming that the Congress will participate in the CPI(M)’s joint initiative,” BJP state president Rajib Bhattacharjee says the saffron party is unconcerned.

“The love affair between the Congress and the CPIM) is nothing new to the people of Tripura. Earlier, it was a secret affair and now it will be open,” he said.

People, according to Bhattacharjee, taught both parties a lesson in the 2018 assembly election and will reject them again this time.

The BJP-IPFT alliance won a two-thirds majority in the 60-member Tripura Assembly in 2018, effectively ending the northeastern state’s 25-year-long Left rule.

In 2018, the BJP-IPFT coalition won 43 seats. The BJP received 35 seats, while the IPFT received 8. In the assembly, the CPI(M) has 15 MLAs. In a June by-election, the Congress won one seat.