No alliance with BJP, says TMP chief ahead of Tripura tribal council polls

The founder-chief of the Tipra Motha Party (TMP), Pradyot Kishore Debbarma on Monday firmly ruled out any alliance between his party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the upcoming elections to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).

Polling for the 30-member, politically significant TTAADC is scheduled for April 12, with counting of votes on April 17.

In a video message from New Delhi, Debbarma said that there would be no electoral understanding without visible progress on the tripartite accord signed two years ago. Stressing that “assurances without implementation of the pact” are unacceptable, he made it clear that commitments must translate into action.

Leaders from both the BJP and the TMP said the party's central leadership had held a series of meetings in New Delhi over the past few days to work out a seat-sharing formula. TMP leader and MLA Ranjit Debbarma said party supremo Pradyot Kishore Debbarma was engaged in discussions with BJP leaders in the national capital to finalize the arrangement.

Positioning the April 12 TTAADC elections as a decisive political battle, he described the polls as a mandate on identity, rights, and the future of the indigenous Tiprasa community.

Taking a defiant stance, the TMP supremo asserted that he would neither compromise nor yield under pressure, reiterating that his commitment lies solely with the indigenous people. He also underlined that electoral strength would be demonstrated through democratic means.

Debbarma called for unity among tribal voters cutting across party lines, including the BJP, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Congress, and the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), while urging them to avoid division and violence.

Framing the election as a collective democratic struggle, the tribal leader expressed confidence that grassroots support, especially from economically weaker sections, would outweigh the influence of money and power.

With alliance talks now off the table, the TTAADC elections are set to witness a multi-cornered contest, with the Tipra Motha Party aiming to turn the vote into a referendum on indigenous rights.

While the IPFT remains an older ally of the BJP, the TMP, led by Debbarma, has been a junior partner in the ruling alliance in Tripura since March 2024. Both the TMP and the IPFT are tribal-based political parties with significant influence in the state’s indigenous belt.

Since 2021, the Tipra Motha Party under Debbarma’s leadership has governed the politically crucial 30-member TTAADC, which comprises 28 elected members and two nominated by the state government.

In the 2021 TTAADC elections, the BJP contested 11 seats and won nine, while a BJP-supported Independent candidate also secured victory. The TMP, however, emerged as the dominant force by winning 18 seats and wresting control of the council from the CPI (M) led Left Front.

The council covers nearly two-thirds of Tripura’s 10,491 sq km area and is home to over 12.16 lakh people, around 84 per cent of whom belong to indigenous communities.

Ahead of the upcoming TTAADC polls, major political parties, including the BJP, its allies the IPFT and TMP, as well as opposition parties such as the CPI (M) and the Congress, have intensified efforts to consolidate support among tribal voters.