Guwahati, Aug 25: With the Assembly elections just six months away from now, as part of the BJP’s hectic preparations in Tripura, Chief Minister Manik Saha and his deputy held a vital meeting at Guwahati on Wednesday with Assam Chief Minister and central party leaders.
Sources in Guwahati said that Saha, who is also the President of BJP’s Tripura unit, Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma held meeting with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, party’s National General Secretary B.L. Santosh and discussed the initial strategies aiming the next assembly election, expected to be held in February next year.
In the four-hour long marathon meeting, discussion was also held whether to continue with any alliance with the present electoral ally Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT).
BJP’s National Vice-President Baijayant Jay Panda and central observer for Tripura Fanindra Nath Sharma were also present in the Wednesday’s meeting at Guwahati.
Sarma, BJP’s leading strategist and convener of the BJP-led anti-Congress alliance of regional parties — North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), played a significant role in the 2018 assembly elections in Tripura when the saffron party led alliance defeated the CPI-M led Left Front after 25 years.
BJP’s national president J.P. Nadda and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat are expected to visit separately in the state to attend organisational functions next week.
Trinamool Congress removes Subal Bhowmik from Tripura unit’s top post (sub head)
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Wednesday removed Subal Bhowmik from the post of President of the party’s Tripura state committee. According to party sources, Bhowmik, who was earlier in the BJP, is again likely to re-join the saffron party during Nadda’s upcoming visit as he has a good rapport with the Tripura Chief Minister.
Bhowmik, a former Congress MLA, was appointed Tripura state President of the TMC after party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on April 29 announced a 132-member full-fledged state committee in the BJP-ruled Tripura.
Bhowmik, before joining the Congress in 2020 for the second time, was in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for a few years.
Hangsha Kumar joins TIPRA
Meanwhile, in a major setback for the ruling BJP in Tripura, top tribal leader Hangsha Kumar Tripura on Tuesday joined the Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA), a major tribal-based opposition party.
Accompanied by around 6,500 tribals belonging to the BJP and its ally IPFT, Hangsha Kumar joined the TIPRA at a public rally held at Manikpur in northern Tripura.
