Agartala, Mar 14 (UNI) The state's ruling BJP and its new partner TIPRA Motha on Thursday faced resentment within their ranks after the nomination of Kriti Singh Debbarma, from the Rajkot royal family of Chhattisgarh, as the saffron party's candidate for the East Tripura Lok Sabha seat.
Kriti Singh Debbarma is the elder sister of TIPRA Motha founder and royal scion, Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma.
This is the second time in Tripura's history since 1952 that a non-resident of the state has been chosen as a Lok Sabha candidate. Earlier, the then-ruling Congress had nominated Santosh Mohan Deb - from Silchar (South Assam) - for the West Tripura Lok Sabha seat twice (1989–91 and 1991–96).
Kriti Singh's selection as the BJP candidate upset both parties' leaders, who have been relentlessly working at the ground level for the last five years.
In 2018, Kriti fought the assembly election as an independent candidate from Chhattisgarh’s Kawardha constituency against the BJP.
However, this time she has been given the ticket from Tripura and preferred over the incumbent East Tripura MP Rebati Tripura, a dedicated Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha worker since childhood.
“If the party's top leaders sitting in Delhi start importing candidates from outside, ignoring their dedicated cadres, I am sure this party will face a tough time soon. In West Tripura seat too, the central leadership brought back former CM Biplab Kumar Deb, who was removed as chief minister one and a half years ago for committing a series of misdeeds, corruption, and indulging in political vendetta," said a senior Tripura BJP functionary.
Similarly, TIPRA Motha workers have also been upset with Pradyot's role in dealing with the BJP. A top Motha leader said, “Our people felt Pradyot played drama with the emotion of the tribals. Before leaving for Delhi, he assured us he would not compromise our core demand, but he signed a tripartite agreement that contained nothing.
"We wanted Motha president and veteran politician of Tripura, Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhal, as a BJP-supported candidate in East Tripura, but he brought his sister from Chhattisgarh, who doesn’t know our language, life, and suffering," the leader said on condition of anonymity.
He further alleged that Pradyot had "cheated" the indigenous people of Tripura time and again since the last assembly elections and said, “Pradyot earned a lot by selling tribals and their emotions to the BJP, and nothing will happen to us. He did everything for his family.
"In 2019, when he was in Congress, he gave a ticket to another sister, Pragya Debbarma, but she lost, and this time he managed to get a ticket from the BJP at the cost of our pain and suffering. God will not forgive him.”
Motha founder Pradyot, after resigning from Congress in 2019, floated the NGO TIPRA Motha, which later emerged as a political party ahead of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (ADC) polls in 2021.
Pradyot went on agitation and held several blockades demanding the elevation of ADC to Greater Tipraland (with more autonomy like a separate state) and a constitutional solution to secure land rights and the development of health, education, language, and culture of the indigenous people as enshrined in the Constitution of India.
"But he forgot everything when he recently signed the tripartite agreement and inducted two of his loyal MLAs into the cabinet without any portfolio and his non-resident sister as a BJP candidate," he said, adding that Kriti Singh (52) is a stranger to the people of Tripura. UNI BB GNK SSP