The TIPRA Motha led by royal scion Pradyot Kishore Debbarma on Saturday night released the party’s first list of candidates for the upcoming Tripura Assembly Elections in 20 seats including eight non-tribal constituencies in the state.
The party has nominated 12 candidates in ST reserved seats, two in Scheduled Caste ( SC) reserved seats and six in unreserved seats. In the 60 Assembly seats, 20 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST). The list didn’t have Debbarma’s name in it. The party’s second list of candidates is expected to release soon.
Debbarma on Friday declared the TIPRA Motha will fight the polls alone, two days after a party delegation failed to get an assurance from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government on their demand for a separate state for indigenous people.
The party’s candidate list came within hours after another tribal party in the state, the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) declared to continue their alliance with the ruling BJP and finalised their seat sharing on Saturday.
Debbarma had earlier written to the IPFT leadership for unification of both the parties for the state polls saying that they are fighting for the same demand seeking a permanent constitutional solution for the indigenous people.
As per the candidate list, former IPFT legislator Brishaketu Debbarma, who switched over to the TIPRA Motha in 2021, will contest from Simna, his home turf.
Subodh Debbarma will contest from Charilam constituency against deputy chief minister Jishnu Devvarma.
Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) chief executive member Purna Chandra Jamatia will contest from Bagma and his deputy Animesh Debbarma will contest against former IPFT supremo Narendra Chandra Debbarma’s daughter Jayanti Debbarma from Asharambari seat.
TIPRA Motha spokesperson Paul Dangshu will contest from Karamcherra against newly-joined Congress leader Diba Chandra Hrangkhawl.
Hrangkhawl was one among the six legislators who switched over to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in 2016 and then to the BJP a year later.
In the non-tribal seats, the party’s TIPRA Citizens Forum Abu Khayer Miah was given ticket for Buxanagar while Shyamal Sarkar and Bilas Malakar have been nominated from Surma and Fatikroy constituencies, both reserved for SC. Manihar Debbarma will contest from Kalyanpur-Pramodenagar seat.
Arup Deb, Ashi Ram Reang, David Munda and Joy Chung Halam have been given tickets for Hrishyamukh, Amarpur, Chandipur and Panisagar seats.
Debbarma in a tweet on Saturday claimed that many IPFT supporters are joining his party. “Many calls coming from everywhere ! Reports of thousands of IPFT supporters joining us,” he said.
Earlier in another tweet, before the IPFT and the BJP announced their seat sharing, he alleged, “All the ipft leaders are surprisingly not picking up their calls ! Been waiting to hear from them since 11 am ! Looks like Operation lotus is on !”
The Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) Motha, founded by Deb Barma after his exit from the Congress, was pursued by both the BJP and the Left-Congress combine for an alliance, but he maintained that the party would not firm up a partnership unless there was a written assurance that their primary demand of Greater Tipraland will be fulfilled.
The party had come to power in the 28-member Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council ( TTAADC) in 2021 within two months of its emergence.
The BJP on Saturdat gave the IPFT five constituencies, four less than what it got in the 2018 polls. The ruling party has also announced the names of 54 candidates in the state. The CPI(M) and the Congress are contesting the Tripura polls together.
The state will go to polls on February 16 and counting of votes will take place on March 2.a
