A non-entity in last elections, BJP has surged forward, threatening to end 25-yr-long left rule
As Tripura goes to polls today, this is the first time in more than two decades that the Left bastion is crumbling. A non-entity in the last elections, the BJP has surged forward to capture all of Congress’ vote bank, aided hugely by a last-moment stitching of an alliance with the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT).
Despite a clean image, CM Manik Sarkar, who is known as the country’s most honest chief minister with a bank balance that runs barely into thousands, has been battling allegations of corruption in the wake of the Rose Valley scam. Pictures of him inaugurating Rose Valley’s enterprises across the state and the involvement of his ministers have led to a lot of criticism.
CPM general secretary Bijan Dhar told DNA that the party may lose seats this elections. “There might be lesser number of seats, but the Left will form the government. People know that the BJP will never uphold the democratic traditions; in Assam there is an ethnic polarisation over the NRC, in Nagaland trouble over the Naga Accord,” Dhar said.
He however added that all is fair game in elections and the CMP is ready to fight back the “fascist and corporate-backed” forces of the BJP.
The Congress, on the other hand, lost most of its party people to the BJP. Of the 51 candidates that the BJP has fielded, 46 are from Congress. The inactivity of the Congress high command, and of Northeast in-charge CP Joshi was one of the reason party’s working president Pradyot Manikya Debbarma was courted by former Congress colleague and currently NEDA convenor of the BJP, Himanta Biswa Sarma.
The meeting set off rumours of the scion of the erstwhile Manikya kingdom joining the BJP which was looking for a credible CM face, prompting Congress president Rahul Gandhi to call for a quick meeting. While Pradyot stayed, it is unlikely that the voters will.
Speaking to DNA, he says all is not lost for the party. “The people are tired of cadre-based violence, they need a normal party which does not hinge on extremities.”
The BJP, continuing with its focussed thrust in the region, sent PM Modi’s campaign manager Sunil Deodhar to Tripura for three years to prepare for the elections. While 49 of its 50 candidates lost their deposits in the last Assembly elections, this time it has forged way ahead of the Congress to emerge as a credible Opposition, and might even win the elections.
“We worked hard to build the party here. State needs politicians who will work for the poor and works on the lines of antodaya (upliftment),” says Deodhar.
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 "Polling officials arriving in Agartala on Saturday —PTI")
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