Will not be in active politics from next month, says TIPRA Motha party founder

A day after the TIPRA Motha party’s victory in Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) village council polls, party founder Pradyot Kishore Debbarma on Tuesday said that he would stay away from active politics.

“I will not be in active politics from next month. My father Maharaja Kirit Bikram Manikya always said that leave when you are on the top and not on the way down,” Debbarma said, adding that he never planned to join politics and had done so to fight for the rights of Tiprasa people.

“My TIPRA Motha warriors, you all are my family. I will always love you. Be honest and work for people. Stay away from politics but stay close to your people”, Debbarma said in a live video from his Facebook page.

He also asked party workers to organise a mega rally and invite chairpersons of the village committees. Debbarma said he would also address them.

He also asked the central and state government to implement the Tiprasa agreement.

The TIPRA Motha party, an alliance partner of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tripura, won 3,133 seats leaving 640 to BJP in the TTAADC village council that voted on September 28.

BJP’s another ally, IPFT, won 20 seats while 138 seats were won by independent candidates. Opposition CPM and Congress won 58 and 10 seats respectively.

Debbarma said the election results would restore the power of the grassroots back to the people. “The long struggle in the Supreme Court which I personally fought to ensure that our constitutional rights is restored. Which ever party wins today the most important thing is that the people have won. This is the power of Tiprasa,” he said in a Facebook post after the election results.

Though 4,597 seats were supposed to go for polls under 587 village committees, voting took place in 2,950 seats as 1,644 seats were elected unopposed including 1,561 from TIPRA Motha party, 81 from BJP, one each from CPIM and an independent.

The five-year term of the elected village committees ended in 2021 but the election could not be conducted due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Elections to the 28-seat TTAADC poll was held this April in which the TIPRA Motha party won 24 seats, reducing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) share to four seats, half of the eight seats that it had won in the last tribal council elections.