 "Left could rule Tripura due to backdoor understanding with Congress: BJP")
The BJP on Saturday alleged that the Left Front could rule Tripura for long years because of a "backdoor understanding" with the Congress.
BJP state president Rajib Bhattacharjee said although the two parties dominated Tripura since its statehood in 1972, the saffron party changed the state's "political arithmetic" by winning 36 seats in the 60-member House in the 2018 assembly elections, thus pushing Congress to the margins.
"During elections, CPI(M) used to assert that the Left Front will win 50 seats, while Congress claimed it will return to power. When results were declared, the Left's assertion came true, while leaders of the grand old party went incommunicado," he said at a party programme in Gandacherra in Dhalai district.
"People of the state are well aware of the tricky politics of both the Left and the Congress. The political alignment between the two parties, that are advocating for an alliance among the secular forces, is not new in the state," he said, while urging the party leaders and supporters to "remain alert" about the poll tactics of CPI(M), Congress and the newly floated Tipra Motha.
Asserting that the BJP will sweep the 2023 assembly election with a massive mandate, Bhattacharjee said the saffron party doesn't believe in terror tactics but "will not spare those trying to create trouble".
Bhattacharjee shot back at the opposition's allegations of deterioration in law and order, saying, "The opposition forgets the murders of Left Front minister Bimal Sinha and Sub-divisional Magistrate Sukhram Debbarma that took place during the Left rule. Their families haven't got justice yet."
As many as 1,504 supporters of other parties joined the BJP at the rally.
Rubbishing the BJP state president's allegation as baseless, CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Chowdhury said, "We don't have any direct or indirect understanding with the Congress. We are calling for all democratic forces to come forward to restore democratic values in the state. We never appealed for an alliance with the Congress."
Senior Congress leader and former MLA Asish Saha said, "The Congress has a long tradition of fight against CPI(M) in Tripura. The BJP was nowhere when we fought the Left in the state."
The Left Front ruled the state for 35 years in two separate terms from 1978-88 and then from 1993-2018. The Congress ruled from 1972-78 and from 1988-93.