Tripura: BJP's failure to keep leaders with them jolts party in state ahead of Assembly polls, says Manik Sarkar

CPI (M) politburo member Manik Sarkar on October 18 stated that the BJP has failed to keep leaders in the parties that deposed the Left Front government in the state in 2018, as five MLAs from the ruling coalition have left to join other parties.

The scenario in the northeastern state has altered, with three BJP members leaving to join other parties, and two Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) MLAs joining Tipra Motha, Sarkar remarked at an SFI state-level session.

Sudip Roybarman and Ashis Saha of the BJP have joined the Congress, while Burbu Mohan Tripura of the saffron party and Dhananjoy Tripura and Brishaketu Debbarma of the IPFT have joined the Tipra Motha.

According to the leader of the opposition in the Tripura Assembly, NDA defectors have publicly said that they are disillusioned and very unhappy with the saffron party's way of operating.

Sarkar also claimed that this is a big jolt for the ruling party ahead of the election which is in February next year.

According to the reports, before the 2018 Tripura Assembly elections, all anti-Left parties banded together to challenge the Left Front administration.

As a consequence, the BJP, which had a vote share of less than 5 percent before 2018, secured a 42 percent vote share over Congress and its ally INPT.

“The Left Front lost seven to eight percent vote which took the vote share of BJP and its ally IPFT to around 52 percent and the saffron party won the election,” the former chief minister said on October 18.

He criticized the BJP, claiming that the chief minister had to be replaced barely 10 months before the Assembly election.

“The person (Biplab Kumar Deb) who was applauded by the prime minister had to be moved out of the chief minister's office and a new face (Manik Saha) was brought in to lead the government”. 

"This was done to divert the people's attention from the failures of the BJP-IPFT government. But this will not save the BJP in the 2023 elections”, he said. 

The CPI (M) leader urged SFI followers to reject the saffron party, claiming that the BJP would be defeated if the people came together decisively.