Ahead of the elections to the30-member Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), the National Conference of Tripura (NCT) has merged with the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT).NCT president Animesh Debbarma said after the merger that took place on Friday, the new party has been named the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (United)."Once we were united but later suffered a split and now we have reunited. I thank INPT chief Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl for taking the initiative in reuniting the two parties. We feel there is no point in separately protesting the injustice that is being meted out to the tribals," he told reporters on Sunday.Hrangkhawl said the merger will strengthen the power of the indigenous people of the state.He said the party is working to bring other tribal outfits like the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) under the umbrella of INPT.IPFT is an ally of the ruling BJP in Tripura."Talks are on with the IPFT and other political parties to bring them under the umbrella of the INPT. We feel all tribal parties should be united," Hrangkhawl told reporters.Draft electoral rolls for the TTAADC election was published on March 10.State Election Commissioner (SEC) M L Dey said the final electoral rolls will be published on March 26, after which the poll dates will be announced.The TTAADC has jurisdiction over a two-third area of Tripura, which is home to tribals who constitute a third of the state's population.
