Tripura: BJP ally IPFT breaks word, seeks Tipraland state

Barely days after the BJP formed a government in Tripura after forging an alliance with the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), hundreds of delegates from the IPFT descended on the Capital to carry out a rally called for the National Federation of new States, to demand a separate state of Tipraland.

It is worth noting that after the pre-poll alliance was announced in Tripura, the IPFT had promised to keep aside their demand for a year. The BJP said that a committee will study the demands of the people and will submit a report within a year, and that, till then the IPFT will not raise their demands.

Ampi Nagar MLA Sindo Charan Jamatia, too, was part of the protest. IPFT president NC Debbarma told DNA that they are well within their rights to be a part of the rally.

"The IPFT was part of the rally as a stakeholder and a member. Our demand for a separate state goes back to 2009, and keeping aside our electoral alliances, it is our democratic right granted by the constitutional framework," said Debbarma.

Sources in the IPFT, however, said that only to IPFT MLAs being made ministers and the distribution of portfolios have been a bone of contention between the two parties. Debbarma was given the fisheries and revenue ministries, while deputy CM Jishnu Dev Varma was given the portfolios of power, rural development, finance, planning and coordination.