BJP releases list of 48 candidates for Tripura Assembly polls

State Chief Minister Manik Saha has been nominated as a BJP candidate from Town Bordowali

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday released two lists of candidates for the Tripura elections, fielding 48 names of its own party members in the first list, and subsequently, a list of six candidates in alliance with the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) in the second. In all the party fielded 11 women candidates just two days ahead of the deadline for the nomination of candidates which ends on January 30.

Among the big names, the party has fielded chief minister Manik Saha from the Town Bardowali seat, while union minister Pratima Bhoumik will fight the elections from Dhanpur. There was speculation that the alliance with IPFT had broken down, with Tipra Motha chief Pradyot Debbarman saying in the past that an alliance between the two regional outfits would be announced soon.

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On Saturday, however, Debbarma, took to twitter on Saturday to say that IPFT leaders were unresponsive to him. “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,” Debbarma tweeted. He later said that several local IPFT local leaders are with him.

Last term the BJP ceded nine seats to the IPFT of which eight were won, but this time the BJP is leaving aside only five seats for the Alliance. The BJP also did not field former chief minister Biplab Deb, who gave way to Saha midterm and is now a Rajya Sabha MP. State president Rajib Bhattacharjee will contest from the Banamalipur seat from which Deb contested last term. By fielding Bhoumik, speculation about the chief ministerial candidate has intensified since the BJP has not yet named who will be the CM. Apart from that deputy CM Jishnu Debbarma will contest from the Charilam ST reserved seat.

Bhattacharjee said that the rest of the 12 names will be announced soon. While all the ministers have retained their seats, as many as six sitting MLAs are dropped.

On the other hand, the Congress also released its first of 17 candidates even as seat-sharing talks with the Left continued despite some differences. The Congress-Left as well as the BJP have both sought to woo Tipra Motha, but Debbarma said that he will fight the elections solo to fight for his Greater Tipraland demand.