Tripura Assembly polls: Tipra Motha chief won't contest on Feb 16

'The party will give tickets to warriors from the villages, not the Palace,' he said

Pradyot Deb Barma, the Chief of Tipra Motha will not contest the Assembly elections in Tripura on February 16.

The list of 42 candidates in which Tipra Motha is going to fight the elections did not feature the name of Deb Barma, who decided to fight the elections with a demand for "Greater Tipraland" state for the indigenous Tripuris.

"After coming to power, we will fight for a constitutional solution to our demand for Greater Tipraland. Once we get the Constitutional solution, the development will happen automatically. In the past 70 years, we have seen how they (national parties) promised development but nothing much happened. Until we raised our demands, they did not talk. We have realized that till we shake them, they won't talk to us," Deb Barma told reporters while accompanying Tipra Motha candidates on Monday, the last day of filing nomination papers for the Assembly polls.

On Sunday, Deb Barma posted on Facebook that no one from his family would contest the elections, unlike most political families. "The party will give tickets to warriors from the villages, not the Palace," said the Royal scion's post.

The 42 candidates include at least 16 non-tribal faces.

Although the 20-odd Assembly constituencies (out of 60) under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTADC) are considered Tipra Motha's focus, Deb Barma earlier announced that they will give equal importance on winning elections outside TTADC areas.

Deb Barma had earlier rejected a proposal for an alliance with the ruling BJP without a written assurance about the fulfilment of its demand for Greater Tipraland. He also rejected the offer from CPI (M) and Congress, who are fighting the elections in a seat-sharing arrangement, for the first time in Tripura.

Deb Barma exuded confidence that his party would fight the elections against all those who are against Greater Tipraland for the indigenous Tripuris in Tripura, Assam, Mizoram and neighbouring Bangladesh.

BJP leader and Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said the party decided not to form an alliance with Tipra Motha as BJP is against the division of Tripura and to maintain unity in the state.