AGARTALA, April 22 (PTI): The CPI(M) will take initiatives to rejuvenate the party organisation in Tripura, state party secretary Jitendra Chowdhury said.
He appealed to all democratic forces to join hands to restore democratic values which have been “throttled” in Tripura in the past five years of the BJP rule in the northeastern state.
“A pool of talent has come up in the 2023 assembly election who worked defying all threats and intimations. We have decided to reorganise the organisation to continue the movement for restoration of democracy in Tripura”, he said at a press conference here on Thursday after a brainstorming session to analyse the party’s performance in the assembly election.
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“We don’t think electoral understanding among the democratic forces has ended with the completion of the assembly election. The CPI(M) wants to stretch it for safeguarding the constitution and its democratic values”, he said.
Noting that the BJP won the election by taking advantage of the division in the anti-BJP vote bank, the former MP said the CPI(M) wanted to consolidate the anti-BJP forces including Tipra Motha to defeat the BJP.
“We made serious attempts to bring Tipra Motha to join us (Left-Congress) but it was Motha’s leadership who had sought ‘written assurance’ to Greater Tipraland. Now, they are waiting for the engagement of an interlocutor for a constitutional solution to the indigenous problems”, he said.
“The Tipra Motha not only fielded candidates in 20 tribal reserved seats but also put candidates in 22 general constituencies at the last moment knowing that its candidates had no chance of victory. This helped BJP to win 32 seats alone”, he said.
He claimed that had Tipra Motha been with Left-Congress combine, the alliance (Left-Congress) seat tally could have got 31/32 seats which is 16 to 17 more than its present strength.
“The Tipra Motha’s tally would have been 17 to 18 seats while the saffron brigade would have been reduced to a single-digit. But all went wrong because of Motha’s rigid stand on contesting the election alone which has helped the BJP to form the government”, he said.
Alleging that the BJP has used all its might – money power, violence and use of administration in the run to the elections, the veteran tribal leader said the ruling party’s support base has tilted because it’s seats and vote share has come down.
In the 2023 Assembly election, the BJP won only 32 seats in the 60-member Assembly while it won 36 in the previous general elections. Its vote share has been reduced by 11 per cent to 40 per cent.
The Left-Congress combine polled 36.03 per cent votes while Tipra Motha secured 19.90 per cent votes.
