Tripura left front vows all-out fight against BJP in civic polls despite failed Congress seat-sharing talks

The Tripura Left Front has vowed to make every possible effort to defeat the BJP in the upcoming municipal and urban local body elections, despite failing to reach a seat-sharing arrangement with the Congress over differences within the latter party.

Leader of the Opposition and CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury said on Tuesday that the Left Front had made sincere efforts to forge an electoral understanding with the Congress to prevent the division of anti-BJP votes, but the negotiations ultimately failed to produce an agreement.

Addressing the media, Chaudhury asserted that the failure of the proposed alliance would not weaken the Left Front's resolve to challenge the ruling BJP.

"We will make every possible effort to ensure the BJP's defeat," he said.

Referring to recent remarks by Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman, who had praised Chaudhury's approach while alleging the presence of an invisible force within the CPI(M), the Left leader said he was unaware of the reasons behind such comments. He maintained that the focus should instead be on discussing the political ground realities ahead of the civic polls.

Chaudhury recalled that the possibility of an electoral understanding was discussed at an INDIA bloc meeting held at the Assembly on October 24, which was also attended by Roy Barman. The Congress MLA had reportedly suggested that the matter would be taken up at the next meeting after the October 30 programme.

At the October 30 INDIA bloc programme held outside the Election Commission's office, leaders of different opposition parties had reiterated their commitment to preventing the BJP from gaining a political advantage in the upcoming elections. Tripura Congress president Ashish Saha also addressed the gathering, while Chaudhury delivered the concluding speech.

Explaining the subsequent negotiations, Chaudhury said he and Saha travelled to Delhi on the same day but had separate programmes, with no joint meeting scheduled for November 1.

He said an initiative was subsequently taken to facilitate discussions on seat-sharing. A meeting was held that night between a representative of the Congress leadership and Saha through Congress spokesperson Prabir Chakraborty.

Chaudhury said he had to return to Agartala before the November 2 deadline for filing nominations. He later learnt that the Congress had sought 22 seats.

According to him, the Left Front had also agreed not to field candidates in a few additional constituencies beyond those 22 as part of the proposed understanding. Left Front candidates filed nominations only in constituencies where consensus had been reached and where the Congress had not staked a claim.

However, Chaudhury expressed surprise over several statements that surfaced in the media after November 2, claiming that Roy Barman had not apprised him of the developments even during a subsequent conversation.

He said the Left Front had pursued the proposed understanding in response to strong public expectations for a united opposition fight against the BJP, particularly to prevent anti-BJP votes from splitting across multiple parties.

The Left Front, comprising the CPI(M), CPI, RSP, Forward Bloc and CPI(ML), is contesting the elections together.

Chaudhury added that negotiations with the Congress were not confined to Agartala but were also conducted at the local level for the other 20 urban local bodies across Tripura. Talks continued until the final hours of November 9 but ultimately collapsed due to a lack of consensus within the Congress, he claimed.

He further maintained that a successful seat-sharing arrangement could have mounted a stronger challenge to the BJP in the Agartala Municipal Corporation and improved the opposition's prospects of dislodging the ruling party.