An MLA of the ruling Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) on Saturday joined the Tipra Motha, a regional political outfit which is emerging as a key player in the run-up to next year’s state Assembly polls.

Dhananjoy Tripura, 31, who represented the Raima Valley constituency in Dhalai district since 2018, had resigned from the IPFT on Friday.

He is the third MLA from the ruling BJP-IPFT coalition since 2021 to have joined the Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) Motha, led by royal scion Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma.

Before Dhananjoy Tripura, IPFT MLA Brishaketu Debbarma had last year switched allegiance to Motha while BJP MLA Burbu Mohan Tripura joined in September this year.

Dhananjoy Tripura’s departure will not have any impact on the ruling coalition since it has a comfortable majority in the 60-member state Assembly (BJP now has 35 MLAs and IPFT six).

The defections, however, reflect the growing popularity of the Tipra Motha in the tribal belt of the state and the disquiet in the ruling coalition ahead of the Assembly polls.

The IPFT had won eight seats in the 2018 Assembly polls in the coalition headed by the BJP that ended the Left Front’s uninterrupted 25-year reign.

However, the IPFT’s stock has taken a beating since the emergence of Motha, which won its debut Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council elections in 2021 by bagging 18 out of 28 seats.

The IPFT, Congress and the Left, which was ruling the council, drew a blank.

Motha chief Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma, a former state Congress leader, is now the chairman of the council.

First-time MLA Dhananjoy Tripura on Saturday said he had joined the Motha to help the tribal people.

“Maharaj (Pradyot) is working for the unity of the Tiprasa people and I will help him in his endeavour for the development of our 12-lakh people. MLAship is temporary but dofa (community) is permanent,” Tripura said.

Dhananjoy Tripura said he and Brishaketu Debbarma had tried to raise the issue of youth and the Motha’s proposed Greater Tipraland (a separate state for tribals) in the IPFT but were not allowed.

He said IPFT chief N.C. Debbarma was “unwell” and that it was “difficult to run a house when the guardian was unwell”.

Welcoming Dhananjoy Tripura to the party fold, Motha president Bijoy Hrangkhawl said the BJP-IPFT government was a train “without” an engine and that most in the ruling alliance were frustrated.

“We are a united lot and want to do something for the people of the state,” he said.

Taking a dig at the incumbent for “lack” of development within and outside the ADC, Pradyot, the Motha chairperson, on Friday said roads, hospitals and schools had to be developed and that regional politics have changed. Prayot was with Dhananjoy Tripura when he had submitted his resignation to the Speaker on Friday.