Tripura: Left blames TIPRA Motha for ‘helping’ BJP return to power in state
The BJP secured 32 seats and left one for its ally IPFT, while the TIPRA Motha got 13. The CPM and Congress managed to get only 11 and 3 seats, respectively
Nearly two months after the Tripura assembly election results, the CPM has blamed the TIPRA Motha for allowing the Bharatiya Janata Party-Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura combine to form government for a second term.
The BJP secured 32 seats and left one for its ally IPFT, while the TIPRA Motha got 13 seats. The CPM and Congress who fought together managed to get only 11 and 3 seats, respectively.
“We held a detailed discussion on the performance of our party, along with reasons for our debacle. We have urged all democratic and secular forces to join us to fight against the BJP and prevent division of anti-BJP votes. Though we made adjustments with the Congress, it didn’t happen with TIPRA Motha and hence the BJP won because of the division of votes,” CPM state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury said after the state committee meeting late on Thursday.
He alleged that though the TIPRA Motha raised voice against the BJP in public, they had fielded candidates in 22 unreserved seats where they had no chance of victory.
“We didn’t understand the reasons for fielding candidates in those seats,” he said, adding that if the TIPRA Motha would have come for an understanding with the Left-Congress combine without fielding candidates in those seats, they would have won 16-17 more seats. With that arrangement, the TIPRA Motha would have got more seats while the BJP would have ended up getting just 9-11 seats, he claimed.
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Elections to the 60-seat assembly on February 16 recorded 89.95% voter turnout, including 2.19% through postal ballots.
“Though the TIPRA Motha workers at the grassroots level are against the BJP, the topmost leaders of the party are playing with their emotions,” Chaudhury said.
The TIPRA Motha is yet to respond to the claims.
