Agartala Constituency Tug of War: Can BJP candidate Papia Datta outthrow 6-time Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s women's wing leader Papia Datta against Congress heavyweight Sudip Roy Barman for the prestigious 6-Agartala constituency in Assembly polls in Tripura has become a hotbed owning to its candidates.

Six-time MLA from Agartala, Barman joined the BJP in 2018 but returned to the Congress soon after. 

Till now, he has never been defeated, however, with massive backing from the saffron party Papia Datta is confident of breaking the jinx and creating history.

Speaking to the media Sudip Roy Barman said, "BJP doesn't believe in democracy...they believe in muscle power and money power."

Further, the Congress leader alleged that the BJP is obstructing the voters from reaching the polling booths and many incidents have been reported, however, Congress is confident of having an absolute majority.

Also Read: Tripura Assembly Elections 2023: 51.42 per cent voter turnout recorded till 1 pm

"The Congress-CPI(M) alliance will win seats more than the requisite numbers," he added.

On the other hand, first-time candidate of the saffron party from the Agartala Constituency Papia Datta said, "From the first day itself when I got the ticket what I have seen among the voters is the urge of freedom from the left government."

Further, the BJP candidate claimed that she is more than 100 per cent confident of winning the election in the majority.

Speaking on Sudip Roy Barman's stronghold in the Agartala Constituency, the BJP leader said, "There is no challenge at all, if a candidate keeps on changing its party for its own political interest then how can people trust him with the vote."

The BJP leader also claimed that the people of Tripura will not digest the fact that the unholy alliance of Congress-CPI(M) was known for political murders wherein more than 1,000 people were killed.

"This time the people have trusted me and given me confidence that all the votes will be for the saffron party," she added.

One may recollect a similar fight between Congress and the BJP under the Amethi election result in 2019.

Rahul Gandhi faced a tough fight against BJP's Smriti Irani with the fiery right-wing leader winning against the Congress President from Amethi. 

BJP leader Smriti Irani created history by defeating Rahul Gandhi and conquering the Congress bastion of nearly four decades and making her victory the biggest upset of modern-day Indian politics.

While the contest between Rahul and Smriti was expected to be close, even her supporters did not think the margin would be more than 55,000 votes.

Smiriti Irani managed to defeat Congress chief Rahul Gandhi by 55,120 votes. Smriti Irani managed to rake in 4,68,514 while Rahul Gandhi could only pick up 4,13,394 votes.