Agartala, March 8: At a time when the National Democratic Alliance is flooded with star entrants at the national level, the formation in Tripura continues to be beleaguered by feuds among its five constituents.
Comprising only the BJP and Trinamul Congress in the beginning, the state unit of the NDA had posed a major challenge to the Congress, the main Opposition here, in the 1999 Lok Sabha polls. However, subsequent elections witnessed a downslide in the fortune of the BJP and the Trinamul, so much so that in the last Assembly elections they ended up losing security deposits in all seats.
The latest controversy in the party arose after the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) was admitted into the NDA at the initiative of Trinamul leader Mamata Banerjee. The decision did not go down well with the state BJP leadership, especially president Ranajay Deb, who described the INPT as the ?overground front of the banned NLFT? and refused to have anything to do with leaders like Bijay Hrangkhawl and Debabrata Koloi.
To sort out the dispute, the Trinamul convened a tripartite meeting and a joint statement was issued to dispel the impression about the INPT?s identification with the NLFT.
However, sources in the NDA, which includes the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Janata Dal (United) here, said a fresh controversy has arisen with the Trinamul insisting on fighting the West Tripura seat as it had secured more votes than the Congress in 1999.
However, state BJP president Ranajay Deb said his party would not give up its claim to the seat. ?We have better chances now as the Trinamul has been reduced to a signboard,? Deb said. Trinamul chairman Arun Chandra Bhowmik, who is keen on entering the fray himself, has already contacted Mamata Banerjee over the seat.
Sources said as both the INPT and the NCP are not keen on fighting the Lok Sabha polls, the tribal reserve East Tripura seat would be contested by BJP candidate Pulin Dewan. The sources added that hostilities between the state BJP and the INPT could have an adverse impact on the prospects of candidates as the INPT leaders are unlikely to campaign for the BJP.
A fresh controversy has erupted over the formation of the 21-member election committee of the NDA at the state level. The committee has five representatives each from the Trinamul, the INPT and the NCP, but only three each from the BJP and the JD(U). BJP sources said the party was keen on equal representation and would press for the same soon.