By Firstdespatch Desk Mar 18, 2024
Agartala, March 18 (FD) Finally the Congress and the Left Front have shared seats for the upcoming loksabha elections in Tripura as the CPI-M-led Left Front on Sunday announced its candidate for the Tripura East Lok Sabha seat (ST) and decided to support the Congress in the Tripura West seat.
The Left Front convener Narayan Kar said that former CPI-M MLA Rajendra Reang would be the Left’s nominee for the Tripura East Tripura (ST Reserved) constituency.
CPI-M MLA Ratan Das, a former MLA would be fielded in the Ramnagar Assembly seat where by-elections would be held on April 19, Kar told reporters.
The seat had fallen vacant due to the death of sitting BJP MLA Surajit Datta on December 28.
He said Left Front, as a part of the INDIA bloc, decided to fight the poll battle together with partners of the grouping to defeat the BJP.
CPI-M state Secretary Jitendra Chaudhury said that the Left parties would soon hold meetings with the Congress and other INDIA bloc partners to chalk out the campaign and other strategies.
Congress has fielded President of Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee, Ashish Kumar Saha from the Tripura West Lok Sabha seat.
The BJP’s winner in 2019 parliament elections, Union Minister of State for Social Justice Pratima Bhoumik (Tripura West) and Rebati Tripura (Tripura East) were dropped this time.
‘Maharani’ Kriti Singh Debbarma and former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb were nominated by the BJP parliamentary Board for the Tripura East Lok Sabha and Tripura West seats.
A resident of Chhattisgarh, Debbarma, a member of the erstwhile royal dynasty, is the elder sister of Tipra Motha Party (TMP) supremo and royal scion Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman.
Polling for the West Tripura parliamentary seat and the Tripura East (ST) constituency will go to the polls in the second phase on April 19 and 26. FD JK