BJP-IPFT Tripura

Agartala, Jan 29: The ruling BJP-IPFT alliance will continue for the Assembly elections in Tripura.

The announcement was made by chief minister Manik Saha in Agartala on Saturday evening, within hours of the Tipra Motha indicating that its merger talks with the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) had long passed cold. The talks have been on until Friday night.

Asserting that the BJP in no way leaves an alliance, Saha stated the IPFT could contest in 5 Assembly seats, 4 much fewer than in 2018.

In the 2018 polls, the BJP had received 36 of the 51 seats it contested and the IPFT won eight of the nine seats it contested, posting a comprehensive win to oust the Left Front.

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This time, the Left Front has entered into a seat-sharing deal with Congress, a first between the once-bitter rivals.

Tripura is headed for a 4-cornered contest a few of the BJP-IPFT combine, Left Front-Congress, Tipra Motha, and the Trinamool Congress. Tripura, which has 60 Assembly seats, will visit polls on February 16.

Motha chief PradyotBikram Kishore Manikya Debbarma had tweeted earlier in the day: “All the IPFT leaders are surprisingly not picking up their calls! Been waiting to hear from them since 11 am! Looks like Operation lotus is on!”

After the alliance was announced, Debbarma tweeted: “Reports of thousands of IPFT supporters joining us.”