By Firstdespatch Desk Jan 25, 2023
Agartala, Jan 25(FD): The Tripura unit of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) said on Tuesday that it had received 129 applications from potential candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in the state and had sent a shortlist to the West Bengal branch of the party. It stated that the final list would be announced soon.
The TMC declared it would run alone for 60 seats and has not yet forged a formal agreement. TMC state president Pijush Kanti Biswas claimed the party was "keeping its doors open" at a press conference held at the party's headquarters in Agartala, adding that if "there are acceptable scopes of joining up with someone, it might engage in an alliance." Asked about the parameters used to shortlist the candidates, Biswas said "education of prospective candidates, their gender, caste, and community identities, winning possibly, integrity, dedication, public acceptability, and the possibility of becoming turncoats" were considered.
The party did poorly in the Assembly by-election last year, winning less than 3% of the vote share as opposed to the 16% vote share it received in the civic body elections in 2021. As a result of the "failure," the party fired Subal Bhowmik as state president. In the Assembly elections set for February 16, the party's advancement since then will be put to the test.
Rajiv Banerjee, a state in-charge for the TMC and a senior leader, commented on the matter, saying: "The BJP too had less than 3% of the vote before the 2018 Assembly elections, yet they succeeded in overthrowing the 25-year-old Left administration and forming their government." The TMC also has the capacity to establish a government on its own.
He also mentioned that the leader of the TMC and the chief minister of Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, would be visiting Tripura on February 6 and participating in a padyatra and speaking at a public gathering in Agartala. The party wants to see people gain optimism as a result of her visit, he said.
The TMC supreme is expected to stop at the Dargah in Sonamura, in the Sepahijala district, as well as the Tripurasundari Temple in Udaipur, in the Gomati district, while there. Abhishek Banerjee, general secretary of the TMC, is due to speak at public gatherings in South Tripura on February 3 in Sonamura and Belonia. FD SB