The ruling BJP-IPFT alliance will continue for the Assembly elections in Tripura.

The announcement was made by chief minister Manik Saha in Agartala on Saturday evening, within hours of the Tipra Motha indicating that its merger talks with the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) had gone cold. The talks were on till Friday night.

Asserting that the BJP never leaves an alliance, Saha said the IPFT would contest in five Assembly seats, four less than in 2018.

In the 2018 polls, the BJP had won 36 of the 51 seats it contested and the IPFT won eight of the nine seats it contested, posting a comprehensive win to oust the Left Front.

This time, the Left Front has entered into a seat-sharing deal with the Congress, a first between the once-bitter rivals.

Tripura is headed for a four-cornered contest among the BJP-IPFT combine, Left Front-Congress, Tipra Motha and the Trinamul Congress.

Tripura, which has 60 Assembly seats, will go to polls on February 16.

Motha chief PradyotBikram Kishore Manikya Debbarma, had tweeted earlier in the day: “All the ipft leaders are surprisingly not picking up their calls! Been waiting to hear from them since 11 am! Looks like Operation lotus is on!”

After the alliance was announced, Debbarma tweeted: “Reports of thousands of IPFT supporters joining us.”