After he landed from his Meghalaya trip, Gandhi held a meeting with Pradyut and his mother, former Congress minister Maharani Bibhu Kumari Devi on Friday.
The Congress has diverted a possible disaster by managing to stop Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee president Pradyut Manikya DebBarma from joining the BJP, who has been wooing him for a while now. Offers of the CM post and even a Rajya Sabha seat has been made to the heir of the erstwhile Manikya kingdom to lead him into the BJP’s fold to assuage a moral win to the saffron party.
Yet, sources close to the scion said that Congress president Rahul Gandhi managed to avert the loss by a thoughtful meeting with him. After he landed from his Meghalaya trip, Gandhi held a meeting with Pradyut and his mother, former Congress minister Maharani Bibhu Kumari Devi on Friday. Sources in the know said that Gandhi told the scion that he was an asset to the party and that he will not like to see him go. A larger role in the Northeast is known to be a key offer.
Reports of a meeting with BJP strongman Himanta Biswa Sarma in Agartala last week, where he told reporters that Pradyut is interested in a Rajya Sabha seat, led to worries within the Congress headquarters. Rumours of an earlier meeting with BJP president Amit Shah, too, surfaced with the top command asking the scion to fly to Delhi.
Pradyut’s disillusionment with the party stems from feuds with the CPI (M) over possession of properties of the erstwhile Manikya kingdom. Apart from that disagreements with Congress in-charge for the Northeast CP Joshi, under whose watch the party has lost some key states in the region, has also been a reason.
“I have always been committed to fighting the Left in Tripura, and that will happen irrespective of which party I’m associated with. My family has been with Congress for generations, and I owe my allegiance to it,” he said.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Pradyot Manikya DebBarma")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}