Will Tipra Motha emerge as kingmaker in Tripura?

Tipra Motha is likely to emerge as the kingmaker, bagging at least 25-26 seats.

Agartala, Feb 06: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) changed the political landscape of Tripura in 2018, ending the 25-year reign of the CPI(M). Five years later, the buzz is around the Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) Motha, a regional party floated by former royalty Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma, that has made the state elections a three-cornered contest.

Tipra Motha, which campaigns for a separate Greater Tipraland state for indigenous people has refused to stitch an alliance with either the BJP or foes-turned-friends Congress and Left Front.

But the tribal party has kept the doors open for a possible post-poll coalition with any party that supports its demand for a separate state of Greater Tipraland.

Banking on its performance in the 2021 Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) polls, Tipra Motha has decided to go solo and hopes to sweep the 20 tribal-dominated seats that hold the key to power in the northeastern state that has a 60-member assembly.

The BJP, on the other hand, is leaving no stone unturned, and has decided to contest 55 seats, leaving only five seats for alliance partner IPFT.

Tipra Motha gaining popularity

In the 2018 assembly polls, in which the BJP-IPFT combine ended the 25-year-long rule of the Left Front, the saffron party had won 36 seats, including 10 ST reserved constituencies, while its alliance partner had bagged eight seats.

The IPFT, which enjoyed a traditional tribal vote bank in the state has suffered a loss of support base as Tipra Motha began harping on the demand for Greater Tipraland, a separate state carving out tribal areas of Tripura.

The demand for Greater Tipraland: The Greater Tiaraland means carving out a separate state out of Tripura, which is India's smallest state in terms of area. The new state will be a homeland for the indigenous communities of the region. It is alleged that these communities have been reduced to a minority in terms of numbers due to the influx of Bengalis who were displaced from East Bengal during the partition.

Besides the demand for separate statehood, Tipra Motha still holds prominance as tribals revere the erstwhile royal family and they refer to Pradyot Debbarma as 'Bubagra' or king, even today.

Left-Congress push

According to the seat adjustment, the CPI-M will contest 43 seats, and its Left Front partners the Forward Block, the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the Communist Party of India one each.

The Left Front is also supporting an independent candidate in Ramnagar constituency in West Tripura.

The Congress will contest 13 seats, the Trinamool Congress 28, while there are also 58 Independent candidates.

According to political experts, Tipra Motha's entry into the electoral battle is going to hurt the BJP's poll prospects in the tribal areas as demonstrated in the TTAADC polls of 2021.

Tipra Motha is expected to perform well in TTAADC areas banking on its Greater Tipraland demand. The party is likely to emerge as the kingmaker, bagging at least 25-26 seats. The Tipra Motha will contest 42 of the 60 seats in the state.