Tripura polls: IPFT in talks with TIPRA, ally BJP for seat-sharing

The IPFT wants the State’s tribal council areas to be declared a State while the TIPRA seeks ‘Greater Tipraland’ that includes areas beyond Tripura

GUWAHATI

The Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) is holding parallel talks with current ally Bharatiya Janata Party and the four-year-old Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) for the February 16 Assembly election in Tripura.

IPFT president and Tribal Welfare Minister Prem Kumar Reang on Sunday said the core members of his party held a closed-door meeting with a TIPRA team led by party chief Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman in Guwahati on Saturday. 

“Our seat-sharing arrangement has remained inconclusive. We are in talks with both the TIPRA and the BJP,” he said. 

Mr. Reang said the IPFT had a pre-poll alliance in 2018. “We would like to continue with the arrangement if the BJP fulfils our demands,” he said.

The IPFT wants the areas under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) to be declared as a full-fledged State. Its demand since 2009 differs from that of the TIPRA, which seeks the ‘Greater Tipraland’ State comprising the whole of Tripura and areas beyond.

Mr. Reang said his party has not counted out TIPRA because Mr. Deb Barman has been “fighting for the cause of the indigenous tribals wholeheartedly”. He indicated the IPFT and TIPRA would be natural allies as they share similar concerns.