Agartala, March 24 (IANS) Hours after the ruling BJP announced its candidates, its ally Tipra Motha Party (TMP) on Tuesday night declared its nominees for the upcoming elections to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).

TMP founder supremo Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma, along with party President Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl, jointly announced the list of candidates on Tuesday night.

Senior TMP leader and TTAADC Chairman Jagadish Debbarma will seek re-election from the Jirania seat, while Chief Executive Member Purna Chandra Jamatia will contest again from Killa-Bagma.

A day earlier on Monday, TMP chief Debbarma had firmly ruled out any alliance with the BJP for the April 12 TTAADC elections. In a video message from New Delhi, the former royal scion said there would be no electoral understanding without visible progress on the tripartite accord signed on March 2, 2024.

Stressing that “assurances without implementation of the tripartite accord” were unacceptable, he made it clear that commitments must translate into concrete action.

Leaders from both the BJP and TMP had earlier indicated that the two parties’ central leadership had held a series of meetings in New Delhi in recent days to explore a seat-sharing arrangement. TMP MLA Ranjit Debbarma had also said that the party chief was engaged in discussions with BJP leaders in the national capital to finalise such an arrangement.

Positioning the April 12 polls as a decisive political battle, Debbarma described the elections as a mandate on identity, rights, and the future of the indigenous Tiprasa community. Taking a firm and defiant stance, he asserted that he would neither compromise nor yield under pressure, reiterating that his commitment remained solely with the indigenous people.

Earlier on Tuesday, Tripura BJP President Rajib Bhattacharjee announced that his party would contest all 28 seats.

Bhattacharjee, who is also a Rajya Sabha member, told the media: “The BJP currently has nine members in the TTAADC, of whom seven have been renominated. Several senior tribal leaders, including state General Secretary Bipin Debbarma, will also be in the fray.”

He added that if voted to power in the TTAADC, the BJP would ensure effective and transparent governance aimed at the all-round development of the tribal population, which constitutes nearly one-third of Tripura’s total population of around 4.2 million.

The upcoming council elections are being viewed as a crucial political contest in the state. Chief Minister Manik Saha, Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy, and several other BJP leaders were present at the media briefing.

Just before the BJP announced its candidates, two prominent TMP leaders, Ananta Debbarma and Swadagar Kalai, joined the BJP. The party has fielded both of them in the elections.

Polling for the politically significant 30-member TTAADC is scheduled for April 12, with counting set for April 17. The council, regarded as the second most important constitutional body in the state after the Tripura Assembly, comprises 28 elected members and two nominated by the state government.

In light of recent political developments, the elections are expected to witness a multi-cornered contest, with the TMP aiming to turn the polls into a referendum on indigenous rights. The BJP’s other junior ally, the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), has also unilaterally announced candidates in nine seats.

While the IPFT remains an older ally of the BJP, the TMP, led by Debbarma, has been part of the ruling alliance since March 2024. Both TMP and IPFT are tribal-based parties with significant influence in the state’s indigenous regions.

Following prolonged negotiations, the TMP, then in the opposition, signed a tripartite agreement with the Centre and the Tripura government on March 2, 2024, in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The party subsequently joined the BJP-led coalition government on March 7, 2024, reshaping the state’s political landscape. Two TMP MLAs – Animesh Debbarma and Brishaketu Debbarma – were later inducted into the council of ministers headed by Chief Minister Manik Saha.

Since 2021, the Tipra Motha Party has governed the strategically important TTAADC. In the 2021 council elections, the BJP contested 11 seats and won nine, while a BJP-backed Independent candidate also emerged victorious before later joining the TMP. However, the TMP emerged as the dominant force by winning 18 seats and wresting control of the council from the CPI(M)-led Left Front.

The council administers nearly two-thirds of Tripura’s 10,491 sq km area and is home to over 12.16 lakh people, about 84 per cent of whom belong to indigenous communities.

Ahead of the elections, major political parties, including the BJP, its allies IPFT and TMP, and opposition parties such as the CPI(M) and the Congress, have intensified their efforts to consolidate support among tribal voters. The Left parties and Congress have already announced candidates for all 28 seats.

–IANS

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