National
Tripura: Left loses its base among tribals, SCs; BJP taps & gets dividends
Agartala, June 7 (IANS) Once a dominating force in the political landscape of Tripura, the organisational base of CPI-M-led Left parties, which governed the state for 35 years in two phases, has been constantly declining both in the tribal and non-tribal bases, enabling the BJP to latch on to it and derive electoral mileage.
The Congress, which last ruled Tripura from 1988 to 1993, also lost its base in Tripura, though the grand old party governed the erstwhile princely-ruled state for many years in different phases after it joined the Indian union in October 1949.
In the recent elections in Tripura’s two Lok Sabha seats — Tripura West and Tripura East, both won by the ruling BJP, the Left parties and the Congress, which jointly fought the polls as INDIA bloc — got 23.93 per cent votes while the BJP secured 70.72 per cent votes.
Of the total of 60 Assembly constituencies, 30 segments fall in each Parliamentary constituency and except in one Assembly segment (Kailashahar) in all other 59 Assembly seats, the ruling BJP secured much more votes than the Left-Congress combine.
Of the 60 Assembly segments, 20 reserved seats are for the tribals and 10 for the Scheduled Castes. These 30 reserved seats were the strongholds of the Left parties since 1978, when they first came to power in Tripura.
Since 2018, when the BJP led by former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb (2018-2022) came to power for the first time defeating the Left parties, their bases in tribal and Scheduled Caste dominated regions began weakening.
After 2018, the Left parties in the successive elections either won two or three reserved Assembly seats or drew a blank.
On the other hand, the BJP gained the support of the tribal communities on its own, also through its allies — Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) and Tipra Motha Party (TMP) — both tribal-based parties.
Scripting an electoral history, Deb, who secured a record 8,81,341 votes, won the Tripura West Lok Sabha seat, defeating state Congress President and party nominee Ashish Kumar Saha by a margin of 6,11,578 votes.
Political pundits said that Deb, currently a Rajya Sabha member, despite quitting the Chief Ministerial post two years ago following the direction of the central leaders, still enjoys overwhelming support from the people of Tripura.
BJP nominee Kriti Devi Debbarman, who bagged 7,77,447 votes, won the Tripura East parliamentary seat defeating CPI-M nominee Rajendra Reang by a margin of 4,86,819 votes.
Kriti Devi Debbarman is the elder sister of TMP supremo Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma.
The 53-year-old Deb became president of the BJP’s Tripura unit in January 2016, and two years later, he led the party to oust the CPI-M-led Left Front after 25 consecutive years (1993-2018) in power and became the Chief Minister of the state’s first BJP-led government, the fourth in the northeast after Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
He claimed that there was no strong opposition party in Tripura, and hence there was no major challenge in the Lok Sabha election from the opposition.
“My only challenge was to turn the opposition Communists and Congress leaders from negativity to positivity. What have they done after several decades in politics ? They only befooled the people and always engaged them in various so-called agitations,” Deb told IANS.
“People of Tripura trusted me when I worked as CM, and that role also gave me the opportunity to serve the state and its people.”
He further said: “I had started many things (projects and schemes), but I couldn’t do everything. Naturally, when I was nominated as candidate for Lok Sabha polls, public aspirations, trust in BJP and ‘Modi guarantee’, all came together to prompt people to vote, rising above party, identity and religion.”
Deb said that a huge medical tourism potential is lying here and Rs 400-500 crore economy can be achieved.
The BJP leader further said he would work in close coordination with the Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the state government led by Chief Minister Manik Saha.
After being elected to Rajya Sabha in 2022, the central BJP leaders appointed him as the party’s observer for Haryana as well.
(Sujit Chakraborty can be contacted at sujit.c@ians.in)
–IANS
sc/pgh
Hubballi, (Karnataka) July 6 (IANS) Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Pralhad Joshi, on Saturday demanded a probe into bomb threats allegedly issued to the Sri Rama Sena for opening helplines for victims of ‘love jihad’.
Speaking to reporters in Hubballi on Saturday, Joshi said, “The closure of Facebook accounts of Sri Rama Sena is wrong. It is also wrong to issue bomb threats. Violence isn’t right always. The state government should investigate the matter.”
Earlier, addressing the media, Gangadhar Kulkarni, a senior Sri Rama Sena leader stated that after they began a campaign against ‘love jihad’ by opening a helpline on May 29, bomb threats and life threats were given.
The Sena has got more than 170 such calls already and the threat calls are made through internet, he alleged.
The Facebook accounts of all Sri Rama Sena members and the main page have been closed for the last two days, Kulkarni alleged.
“We don’t know whether this was done by jihadis or the government. This has been done to prevent the awareness campaign on love jihad by us,” Kulkarni slammed.
“All Facebook accounts should be allowed to operate, failing which, statewide protests would be launched,” Kulkarni warned.
–IANS
mka/rad
Srinagar, July 6 (IANS) An Army soldier has died in an encounter between the security forces and the terrorists in Jammu & Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Saturday.
Officials said that an Army soldier, injured during the encounter between the security forces and the hiding terrorists in a village of Kulgam district, succumbed to critical injuries in the hospital.
Security forces started a cordon and search operation in Modergam village of Kulgam early on Saturday, following reports about the presence of terrorists in the village.
“As the security forces came close to the hiding terrorists, they fired at the security forces triggering an encounter,” officials said.
The exchange of fire between the security forces and terrorists is continuing in the area.
–IANS
sq/kvd
Jaipur, July 6 (IANS) Heavy rain disrupted normal life in Rajasthan on Saturday causing waterlogging, traffic jams, and the Tonk district administration announcing the closure of schools.
Incessant rain in Kota for the past two days increased Parvati River’s water levels, leading to the closure of the road connecting Sheopur and Gwalior in MP.
The Meteorological Department said that the Baran district recorded the highest rainfall (195 mm) while Parbatsar and Nagaur, registered 71 mm.
In the past 24 hours, Deoli in Tonk 155 mm rain, Malpura (144 mm), Peeplu (144 mm), Tonk tehsil (137 mm), Aligarh (130 mm), 126 mm in Todaraisingh and Nagarfort (115 mm).
Meanwhile, the Meteorological Department officials have warned of heavy to very heavy rain in the state till July 8.
Further on July 9 and 10, heavy rainfall has been forecast for eastern Rajasthan.
–IANS
arc/svn
Srinagar, July 6, (IANS) An encounter has started between terrorists and security forces at Hadipora area at Modergam in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district, officials said on Saturday.
“Encounter started at Modergam village of Kulgam District. Police and security forces are on job,” police said.
The operation started after a joint team of police and security forces got an input about the presence of terrorists in that area.
There have been a series of encounters between terrorists and security forces across Kashmir in the recent past in which many terrorists have been eliminated.
–IANS
zi/kvd
Thiruvananthapuram, July 6 (IANS) With the Election Commission all set to announce the dates for bypolls to two Assembly constituencies and for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, the BJP launched its campaign at Palakkad on Saturday.
The Assembly bye-elections at Palakkad and Chelakkara were necessitated after sitting legislators Shafi Paramabil (Congress at Palakkad) and K Radhakrishnan (CPI-M at Chelakkara) vacated their seats after winning the Lok Sabha polls.
The Palakkad unit of the BJP launched its campaign after a function to felicitate the two party Cabinet members from Kerala.
Suresh Gopi won from the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat while George Kurian a senior party leader will soon be brought into the Rajya Sabha from another state.
Gopi said that just like the people at Thrissur gave BJP the seat, he was confident that the people at Palakkad would also give the seat to the party.
The BJP has now started its search for a suitable candidate for Palakkad and the name of Kerala BJP President, K Surendran, is doing the rounds.
A popular leader, he came a distant third in the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat which has now been vacated by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi.
Apart from K Surendran, the names of Sobha Surendran who contested the Alappuzha Lok Sabha seat and Krishnakumar who contested the Palakkad Lok Sabha seat are also doing the rounds.
The BJP is also seriously looking at apolitical candidates like legendary railway engineer E Sreedharan, as the party is confident that such people can help it open its account in the 140-member Kerala Assembly.
This is especially true at Palakkad as the BJP candidates at the previous two Assembly elections, finished second, pushing the CPI(M) candidates to third place.
Meanwhile at Chelakkara which is a reserved constituency for Scheduled Caste candidates, where the BJP doesn’t hold much of a chance, the party is not going to sit idle and might bring in TN Sarassu, a retired principal of a state-run college.
TN Sarassu had been harassed by the student wing of the CPI(M) on the day she retired from service a few years ago.
Incidentally, TN Sarassu was the BJP’s candidate in the Alathur Lok Sabha constituency, in which the Chelakkara Assembly constituency is located.
Even though she lost the Lok Sabha polls, she was able to increase the BJP’s votes in a major way, as compared to the 2019 General Elections.
Incidentally with the bye-election to the Wayanad Lok Sabha polls also being held and the Congress announcing Priyanka Gandhi as its candidate, there will be a galaxy of leaders from the Congress and BJP arriving for campaigning for the seat.
These leaders are also expected to campaign at Palakkad and Chelakkara, thereby giving these constituencies a feel of high-voltage campaigns.
–IANS
sg/rad
Japan hopes Iran's new President will play 'constructive role' in stabilising situation in Middle East- Indian startups raised nearly $176 million across 16 deals in July
1st week
- Love jihad helpline: Pralhad Joshi seeks probe into bomb threat to Sri Rama Sena
- Akshay greets 'power house' Ranveer on his 39th b'day with a dance video
- Will miss connections formed with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, says Rahul Dravid
- J&K: Army soldier dead in Kulgam encounter (Ld)
- Eddie Murphy wants to go ‘quietly’, doesn’t want a funeral
- Winning Olympic medal not only transforms the lives of athletes, but also of their families and villages: Sakshi Malik
- Heavy rain disrupts life in Rajasthan; schools in Tonk shut
- J&K: Encounter breaks out in Kulgam
-
Video1 year agoPM Modi Attacks Congress in Karnataka with “Kerala Story”
-
Cricket1 year ago
CSK players rejoice 5th IPL title with their families (Pics)
-
Politics1 year ago
Siddaramaiah & DK Shivakumar sworn in as Chief Minister & Deputy CM respectively
-
Entertainment1 year ago
Karan Deol weds his longtime Girlfriend Drisha Acharya (Pics)
-
Entertainment1 year ago
Urvashi Rautela dazzles on Cannes 2023 red carpet (Pics)
-
Entertainment1 year ago
Sunny Leone gets ready for Kennedy premiere in Cannes (Pics)
-
Entertainment1 year ago
Alia Bhatt looks crazy beautiful in Prabal Gurung creation at MET GALA 2023 (Pics)
-
Sports6 years agoHistory Of Official FIFA WORLD CUP Match balls
