No communication from Tipra Motha Party over support withdrawal, says Tripura CM Manik Saha

Agartala, July 6 (IANS) A day after BJP ally Tipra Motha Party (TMP) threatened to withdraw support from the government over the alleged non-implementation of the tripartite accord, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Sunday said he had not received any such communication from the junior partner.

The Chief Minister said that he has not yet received any official communication from the alliance partner TMP regarding such a move. “What their party MLA (Ranjit Debbarma) said over the tripartite accord, but I haven’t received anything in writing from the TMP,” Saha told the media on the sidelines of an event here.

When asked about TMP leaders expressing frustration over the alleged non-implementation of the tripartite accord, signed on March 2 last year, the Chief Minister said, “I am in regular talks with Tipra Motha Party supremo (Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma). The process of implementation of the tripartite accord is ongoing.”

Senior TMP leader and MLA Rajit Debbarma on Saturday threatened to withdraw support from the BJP-led coalition government in Tripura over the non-implementation of the tripartite accord. He said that the party leaders would meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah and would discuss their pending demands. “If the meeting with the Union Home Minister failed to resolve our issues, then we would withdraw support from the BJP government in Tripura,” Debbarma told the media.

Hours after the MLA’s threat to withdraw support from the government, TMP Chief Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma on Saturday night said: "If MLA Ranjit Debbarma spoke about withdrawing support from the government, it would be out of frustration as a sense of genuine disappointment and insecurity is prevailing among the tribals in the rural and interior areas." He said their meeting with the Union Home Minister is expected to take place later this month, and the meeting is very crucial as there is some frustration that has been prevailing among the party’s rank and file at the grassroots level over the non-implementation of the tripartite accord.

After a year-long hectic parleys and after signing a tripartite agreement with the Centre and the Tripura government on March 2 last year, the then opposition TMP with 13 MLAs joined the BJP-led coalition government in the state on March 7 last year, adding a new twist to Tripura's politics. On the same day, two TMP MLAs -- Animesh Debbarma and Brishaketu Debbarma -- were inducted into the ministry headed by Chief Minister Manik Saha. The TMP’s demands include greater autonomy for the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) and the development of the tribals’ socio-economic conditions.

The TMP, though, originally demanded a ‘Greater Tipraland’ or a separate state for the tribals under Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution.

The ruling BJP, the opposition CPI-M and the Congress have been opposing the TMP’s ‘Greater Tipraland’ demand.

The TMP became a political force in April 2021 after it wrested power in the politically important TTAADC, which has jurisdiction over two-thirds of Tripura's 10,491 sq km area, and is home to over 12,16,000 people, of which around 84 per cent are tribals. Tribals, who constitute one-third of Tripura’s four million population, always play a crucial role in the electoral politics of Tripura.

The withdrawal of support by the TMP would not have any impact on the stability of the BJP-led government, as the party enjoys an absolute majority with its 33 MLAs. In the 60-member Assembly, the BJP holds a majority with 33 MLAs, and its other ally Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), has one MLA.

--IANS

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