BJP clinches alliance with NC Debbarman-led faction in Tripura

GUWAHATI: In what is expected to provide BJP a major foothold in tribal areas of Tripura in the coming assembly polls, the party today clinched an alliance with a tribal party — the NC Debbarma-led faction of Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT).

Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP’s election-in-charge for Tripura, told ET, "We had a marathon meeting which went on till wee hours of Friday where it was decided that both the party will jointly fight polls."

He said, "A formal announcement in this regard will be made in next couple of days."


Creation of Tipraland is one of the main demand of the NC faction. Recently, NC Debbarma had a meeting with Prime minister Modi and Home minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi.

Debbarma later announced, "The Home minister has agreed to constitute a high-level inter-ministerial team to analyse the demand of separate Tipraland. The committee will submit its report within three months."

Earlier, BJP had opened channel of communication with other tribal parties including National Conference of Tripura (NCT), Rajeshwar Debbarma-led Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) and Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT). A third of the 60 assembly seats in the state are reserved for tribal candidates.

Meanwhile, Congress has also started talks with these parties. A senior congress leader said, "We had an initial discussion on Thursday."