Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday assured the people of Tripura that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is against the move to divide the state and that the party will keep the state united irrespective of whether it comes to power or not. During his address at a public gathering in the state’s Dhalai district, Sarma talked about the meeting he had with Tipra Motha chief Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barma in Guwahati over the demands of bifurcating Tripura.
The Assam chief minister said Deb Barma, who is also know as Maharaj, met him and demanded for a separate land for Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) known as Greater Tipraland. Sarma added that he rejected the demand and didn’t go ahead with the negotiation to join forces in the upcoming assembly election .
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“I told Maharaj that Tripura state is formed by the blessings of Maa Tripura Sundari…No one will be allowed to divide the state,” he said in Hindi.
Sarma shared a clip from the address on his official Twitter account. He further said that the BJP didn’t join hands with Motha and rejected the possibility to win around 50 seats in the state.
“We could have won 50 seats after teaming up with Motha, but at the cost of bifurcating Tripura into two. We rejected the offer. Whether or not we come to power, Tripura should not get divided,” he added.
Assembly elections in Tripura will be contested primarily on the battle lines of providing “greater autonomy” to TTAADC area as offered by the BJP and the combined force of Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist). Whereas a third force, Tipra Motha, has made ‘Greater Tipraland’ to the tribal autonomous council its main poll plank.
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Motha is seen as a possible challenge for both BJP and Congress-CPI(M) in around 21 tribal-dominated constituencies. In their election manifestos, both Congress-CPI(M) and BJP promised “greater autonomy” to tribals along with a slew of projects. However, Pradyot alleged that BJP’s manifesto was copied from his party’s. Motha promised a resolution for Tipraland and opposing Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, within 150 of coming to power in its manifesto.
