The Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura and its coalition partner the Bharatiya Janata Party will contest the 2019 General Elections on their own, the two parties have announced. The regional party said it had made the decision after the BJP named candidates for the two Tripura Lok Sabha seats without consulting it, PTI reported.
The tribal outfit and the BJP formed an alliance in January for the Assembly elections and wrested power from the Left Front, which had ruled Tripura for 25 years.
“They did not inform us and have made their announcements,” The Indian Express quoted the regional party’s Assistant General Secretary Mangal Debbarma as saying in Agartala on Monday. “According to the terms of the coalition, we too should have been informed. Therefore, we will also be having our own candidates in both the seats.”
BJP spokesperson Mrinal Kanti Deb told The Indian Express the following day that the decision would not affect the coalition government in the state. Unidentified BJP leaders said they believe the party would win both Lok Sabha seats due to its “large support base”.
The BJP’s decision to not ally with the IPFT came two days after the Central Bureau of Investigation booked more than 300 members of the regional party, including three leaders, in connection with the killings of two journalists last year.
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