By IANS,
Agartala : Though it has a seat-sharing agreement with the Congress party in West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress said Tuesday it will put up its own candidates for the Lok Sabha polls in Tripura.
Tripura Trinamool Congress chairman Arun Chandra Bhowmik told reporters: “We will fight the Congress and the ruling Left Front in Tripura and we are likely to form an alliance with tribal based parties.”
Meanwhile, the tribal-based Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) and the Party for Democratic Socialism (PDS), a local party formed by breakaway leaders of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), have announced their support to the Congress.
“We have discussed with the Congress central leaders our support for their candidates in both the Lok Sabha seats as they will in turn support us in next year’s election to the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC),” said INPT general Secretary and former minister Rabindra Debbarma.
Two other tribal based parties – Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) and the Nationalist Council of Tripura (NCT) – are also holding talks with various parties to fight unitedly against the ruling left parties.
“If the major parties do not form alliance with us, we shall field candidates separately in both the Lok Sabha constituencies,” said a leader of one of the parties.
Elections to the two Tripura Lok Sabha constituencies would be held April 23.
The ruling CPI-M-led Left Front and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have named their candidates for both seats.
Sitting MPs Khagen Das and Bajuban Reang, both CPI-M central committee members who won in 2004, will again contest from West Tripura and East Tripura respectively.
Tripura BJP president Nilmani Deb will contest from West Tripura while veteran tribal leader Pulin Dewan will be the candidate from East Tripura.