Tripura CPI(M) secretary Jitendra Choudhury Tuesday said Tipra Motha, a tribal regional party, has resumed dialogues with the Left party for likely seat adjustment by the two parties to defeat BJP in the February 16 Assembly poll.
Choudhury said that Tipra Motha supremo Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma had telephoned him on Tuesday morning and said that the party has not named any contestant at Sabroom, from where he is contesting.
The Left party leader claimed that Debbarma has assured that he will undertake an assessment of winnability of the candidates to take on BJP and CPI-M and Tipra Motha will support each other wherever either of them are relatively weak.
"The Tipra Motha chief said he will let me know by this evening ... Even if the matter is not yet finalised today, I believe it will be settled by February 2, the last date of withdrawal of nomination,” Choudhury claimed.
Tipra Motha could not be contacted for its comments despite efforts. All political parties in the northeast state - BJP, CPI(M) and Congress had reached out to Tipra Motha supremo Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma for an electoral understanding.
However, no tie up has been finalised as yet due to Tipra Motha's rigid stand on Greater Tipraland. The regional party has already fielded candidates in 40 constituencies of the 60-member House.
The CPI-M leader said that the Left Front's seat sharing with Congress, which ran into rough weather, will also be settled shortly. Names of 47 Left Front candidates were declared on January 25 and 13 seats were left for Congress.
The Congress leadership had, however, expressed dissatisfaction with the arrangement and fielded candidates in 16 Assembly constituencies. This has created a deadlock over seat sharing deal between the two parties.
“We have entered into a seat sharing deal with the Left Front to defeat BJP. It is not an alliance. It should be understood by others," Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman had said on Monday.
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