Key Takeaways
- The CPI-M and Congress have formed a joint campaign in Tripura, with each party contesting from one constituency under the INDA bloc principle.
- The alliance aims to defeat the BJP, restore democracy, and save the country from corporate governance.
- Key candidates in the alliance include Ashish Kumar Saha, Jitendra Chaudhury, and Rajendra Reang.
The CPI-M and Congress have announced a joint campaign in Tripura, with each party contesting from one constituency as per the seat sharing agreement under the INDA bloc principle. CPI-M State Secretary Jitendra Chaudhury made the announcement on Monday.
“We had our state committee meeting in the presence of Politburo members Prakash Karat and Manik Sarkar and decided that CPI-M would not put up any candidate in the West Tripura Loksabha seat and extend support to Congress candidate Ashis Kumar Saha while senior party leader and former MLA Rajendra Reang would fight from East Tripura (ST) seat as INDIA bloc candidate,” Chaudhury said.
Congress President Ashish Kumar Saha stated that they would not field a candidate in East Tripura and Ramnagar by-poll. However, the CPI-M and other non-saffron parties would support them in West Tripura, as this election is a fight against team Modi for democracy, secularism, and saving the country from corporate governance.
“Although Congress has fought against Communists for decades, it never persuaded politics in religious lines and didn’t ever think to paralyse the constitution for the shake of the interest of corporates depriving crore of Indians. People voted BJP to power hoping for the better but in the last 10 years they ruined the country, which compelled us to come together,” Saha argued.
If the election is held free and fair, the BJP will lose both the seats in Tripura, as the party didn’t pay any respect to the people’s sentiments while selecting the candidates, he claimed.
In East Tripura, BJP fielded Kriti Singh Debbarma from Chhattisgarh who doesn’t have any link with the voters, as if BJP doesn’t have a suitable candidate.
Similarly, in West Tripura BJP nominated former Chief Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Biplab Kumar Deb who was removed from the post of Chief Minister one and half years ago for his anti-people activities, allegations of corruption, moral turpitude, and undemocratic functioning. The people of Tripura have not yet forgotten the atrocities of Deb.
“We are confident in both the seats BJP will lose the battle if people can fairly exercise their franchise and the election is held in a peaceful environment,” Saha added. Tripura is set to witness elections in two phases on April 19 and 26 where more than 28 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.
The former CPI-M MLA Ratan Das has been nominated as INDIA bloc candidate in the Ramnagar Assembly constituency. He had suffered electoral defeat in the year 2018 when the BJP-IPFT alliance came to power. The by-election was necessitated following the death of veteran BJP MLA Surajit Datta in December last year.
