Tripura : BJP holds party meeting in presence of CM, top leaders

In the presence of Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha, all senior leaders of the BJP held an important meeting here on Sunday and discussed various organisational matters and upcoming party programmes.

State BJP President and Rajya Sabha member Rajib Bhattacharjee, in a post on his X account, said: "Today (Sunday), in the presence of Chief Minister Manik Saha at the state party office, I attended an organisational meeting convened with the state office bearers, presidents and chairpersons of all Morchas, and district presidents. In the meeting, we discussed various upcoming organisational activities and prepared directions for future action."

Sunday's meeting was held against the backdrop of the Chief Minister's two consecutive closed-door meetings with the Tipra Motha Party (TMP) supremo Pradyot Kishore Debbarma regarding the implementation of the tripartite 'Tiprasa Accord'.

The accord was signed on March 2 last year in New Delhi for the all-round socio-economic development of the state's indigenous tribal communities.

When asked by reporters, the Chief Minister had said on Saturday that they discussed the progress of the implementation of the tripartite accord, which was signed in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Chief Minister himself.

TMP founder and Chief Pradyot Kishore Debbarma, without elaborating on the discussion, said that the meeting was "very positive" and that cooperation between his party and the BJP would continue further for the welfare of the tribal people.

Another BJP leader said that since elections to the politically crucial Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) are due early next year, party leaders were asked to assess the organisational strength at the booth level in all tribal-inhabited areas.

He added that the BJP has already appointed party observers for all 28 seats of the TTAADC.

With elections to the politically crucial TTAADC approaching, both the BJP and its allies, the TMP and the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), are working separately to strengthen their influence among the tribal communities. Both the TMP and IPFT are tribal-based parties.

The TMP, led by former royal scion Debbarma, has been governing the 30-member (28 elected through election and two nominated by the Governor) TTAADC since 2021.

The tribal autonomous body administers nearly two-thirds of the state's 10,491 square km area and is home to more than 12.16 lakh people, about 84 per cent of whom are tribals.

Tribals constitute about one-third of Tripura's four million population and play a crucial role in the state's electoral politics. Of the total 60 Assembly seats, 20 are reserved for tribals.