Tripura: TIPRA Motha walks out from Assembly over seating arrangements

MLAs of TIPRA Motha on March 24 walked out from the Tripura Legislative Assembly protesting seating arrangements. 

The first session of the Tripura Legislative Assembly started with the election of the Speaker today.

The walkout by Tipra Motha comes a day after Home Minister Amit Shah called Pradyot Deb Barma and assured that an interlocutor will be appointed by March 27 for talks over Tipra Motha's demand for a constitutional solution to issues of the state's indigenous people.

Pradyot, hours before the speaker's election, tweeted that he had a meeting with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma regarding Shah's assurance on Thursday.

It is worth mentioning that Tipra Motha emerged as the second biggest party by winning 13 seats in its maiden Assembly elections on February 16.

On the other hand, the oppositions CPI(M) and Congress, which contested the elections in a seat-sharing arrangement for the first time in the state, managed to win only 11 seats and three seats.

Meanwhile, former Deputy Speaker and BJP-IPFT candidate, Biswabandhu Sen, was elected as the speaker of the Tripura Legislative Assembly on March 24. 

Sen got 32 votes while Congress leader Gopal Chandra Roy secured 14 votes in the election which was held on March 24 -- the first day of the state Assembly session after the new government was sworn in earlier this month.

The 69-year-old Sen was with Congress before switching to BJP in 2017.

Also read: Union Home Minister Amit Shah to appoint interlocutor over Tipraland demand on March 27, says TIPRA chief Pradyot Manikya