Agartala, March 23: Opposition CPI-M and the Congress, which together fought the February 16 Tripura Assembly polls, on Thursday fielded a joint candidate against the ruling BJP for the election to Assembly Speaker’s post.

The newly-constituted Tripura Assembly’s first three-day session will commence on Friday with the appointment of a new Speaker. The CPI-M, which has 11 members, and the Congress with three MLAs, have nominated veteran Congress leader Gopal Roy to contest against the BJP’s Biswa Bandhu Sen, the previous Deputy Speaker in the Assembly.

With 13 seats, the Tipra Motha Party (TMP) was the second-largest party in the Assembly polls after the BJP, which secured 32 seats while its ally, Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), won one seat.

TMP supremo Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman stated that the party’s stance would be finalised after meeting with the 13 MLAs of the party.

Earlier, Tripura Congress President and MLA Birajit Sinha had stated that the TMP would support Gopal Roy for the Speaker’s post. Roy and Sen submitted their nomination papers on Thursday.

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