AGARTALA, Feb 9 ? The attempt of the Indigenous National Party of Tripura (INPT) to forge an alliance with BJP came a cropper once again following strong opposition from the State unit of the BJP. The INPT, which had so far been an ally of the Congress in Tripura, sought to change the electoral partner and held talks with the BJP president M Venkaiah Maidu in New Delhi yesterday.
Earlier, Trinamool Congress leaders Manata Banerjee and Mukul Roy also discussed the INPT?s joining with the NDA in Kolkata. Following the meeting with TMC leaders on February 7, the five-member delegation comprising Rabindra Debbarma, Nagendra Jamatia, Animesh Debbarma, Rajeswar Debbarma?all MLAs and NC Debbarma hurriedly left for the capital on the same day.
The State BJP president Ranojay Deb was also present in the Delhi meeting where he is reported to have strongly opposed his party?s alliance with INPT. The BJP State unit pointed out that INPT not only maintained a strong ?communal overtures? in this sensitive State but also its president and former militant leader Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhwal had ?supported the anti-Indian forces? in the Working Group of Indigenous Peoples convention in Geneva two years ago.
The controversial Geneva speech based on distorted facts and overtly anti-Bengali statement had, in fact, created high sensation in the State before the last Assembly elections. Various political and apolitical outfits strongly reacted to the statements and Hrangkhwal faced charges of sedition. The CID is still investigating into the case.
Added to it were also some controversial demands of the INPT in regards to the Tripura Tribal Area Autonomous District Council. The INPT had been demanding inner-line permit in the ADC as well as upgradation of the Council into Autonomous State under Article 244 (A) of the Constitution. BJP said all these demands were unacceptable and for an alliance it would have discard these controversial issues.
Apart from this, INPT?s demand for direct central fund to the ADC was also rejected in view of the allege corruptions in the Council during the INPT rule. The INPT ruled ADC did not submit utilisation certificates of the fund and once Joel Orang, Union Tribal Welfare Minister, during his visit in the State was reportedly denied by the INPT rulers to have a look at the fund utilisation fact-sheet.
Reports from Delhi said, Oram also strongly rejected any idea of an alliance with the INPT. Not only that, the BJP also told the INPT that they would not like to tie up with a party which has in its fold leaders like Bijoy Hrangkhwal and Debabrata Koloy, former Chief Executive Member of the ADC, who were allegedly maintaining nexus with banned militant outfit NLFT.
State unit president Deb made it clear that Hrangkhwal would have to apologise openly for the killing during the TNV militantcy under his leadership and also for the Geneva speech. Meantime, president of the Tripura Ganatantrik Mancha, an organisation of the intellectuals, Jiten Pal also in a fax message to the BJP yesterday requested the latter no to ally with INPT.
In case an alliance is a compulsion then, the mancha requested the BJP central leadership, it should ask the INPT to discard its controversial leaders like Hrangkhwal and Koloy. It may be mentioned here that earlier also, on two occasion similar talks between INPT-BJP failed on the same issues. After the failure of yesterday?s talks, the tribal party is now virtually left in the cold.
On the other hand, its meeting with BJP for alliance would not go down well with the traditional partner Congress. Only on February 5, both the parties held talks on seat adjustment but within it two days INPT went for talks with the BJP. The Congress is already dogged by differences of opinion among its own leaders on the question of maintaining alliance with the INPT. It is widely believed that the Congress suffered in the last Assembly elections, as the Bengali vote base of the party did not like the alliance with INPT. Now reports from New Delhi said the INPT is trying hard to meet NEPF leader PA Sangma for talks on an alliance.