Denied seat, Tripura BJP MLA and leaders quit party

Chief Minister Manik Saha, Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik, Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Debbarman file papers on Monday, the last day to submit nomination for Assembly elections

BJP MLA Atul Debbarma and chief of the party’s doctors’ cell Tomojit Nath, who were denied seat, resigned from the party on Monday, the last day of filing papers for the Assembly elections in Tripura. Party’s State committee member Ranjan Sinha and scores of disgruntled party functionaries too quit the saffron party.

Dr. Debbarma also submitted his resignation from the Assembly. The resignation of the former RSS activist, who was associated with the Sangh’s Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, came as a surprise to many.

“I will remain independent for now, but will soon decide my future course of action”, Dr. Debbarma told newsmen. A medical doctor by profession, Dr. Debbarma was working in Delhi and returned to Tripura to contest the 2018 Assembly elections as a BJP nominee.

He won from the Krishnapur constituency in Khowai district, defeating the CPI(M) rival. He is one of the seven MLAs the BJP has denied nomination in the coming Assembly elections.

BJP MLA Mimi Majumder, who left the teaching profession to contest from the Badharghat constituency, was also denied nomination. She has not participated in any election programme since the candidate list was announced.

Dr. Tomojit Nath, a prominent political face in north Tripura, on Monday resigned from the party along with several party functionaries. He was an aspirant for the Jubarajnagar constituency in the Dharmanagar subdivision.

Reports of resignations of BJP workers, protests and vandalising of party offices have been reported from various places. BJP’s State committee member and former north district committee president Ranjan Sinha resigned from the party to protest the nomination of Tinku Roy in the Chandipur constituency.