Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Pratima Bhoumik, who contested the recently conducted assembly elections in Tripura from the Dhanpur seat and won, resigned as the MLA by submitting her resignation to Pro Tem Speaker Binoy Bhusan Das. Despite being a member of the Lok Sabha from the West Tripura constituency, she had contested the state elections from the traditional Left-dominated Dhanpur constituency and emerged victorious by defeating CPM’s Kaushik Chanda by a margin of 3,500 votes. With her resignation, the BJP tally in the new assembly is now down to 31 — just about the majority mark in the 60-member House.
Though Pratima won from a difficult seat, she wasn’t included in the new cabinet led by Chief Minister Manik Saha. It is an open secret that she had been eyeing the post of the chief minister. As soon as she was fielded by the party, the speculations of her being the potential CM contender, if the BJP won, started to gain strength. This was despite the fact that Home Minister Amit Shah had as early as in January declared that the elections would be fought under Saha’s leadership — and this was repeatedly expressed later also during the campaigning by the party’s central leadership. Saha, who was a loyalist of former CM Biplab Deb, is a soft-spoken man and has been known for his clean image with no controversies. But a well-designed narrative was spread by a section of the party, backed by an influential state leader, that Pratima would be the next chief minister of the state.
So, why was Pratima Bhoumik fielded by the BJP?
One reason was to boost the women card in the elections — the party fielded 12 women candidates. But more than that, it was factionalism that worried the central leadership of the party and as a result, she was fielded to keep her in good humour. Biplab Deb, currently a Rajya Sabha MP, hasn’t been able to deal with the fact that he is no more the chief minister — and it is an open secret that he still eyes the post. Aware that there may be trouble, the party gave the ticket to Pratima and did not field Deb from his constituency, Banamalipur, which was given to state party president Rajib Bhattacharjee, who in fact lost from this safe constituency. Clearly, the state president’s loss was linked to alleged sabotage from within the party.
It was said that Pratima wanted to be given at least the deputy CM post — but that was something not possible given the state’s demography. With the chief minister and the party president both from the majority Bengali community, it would have been a blunder for the party to make Pratima the deputy CM while not nominating anyone from the tribal community, which accounts for 31% of the state’s population.
Whatever the reasons may have been, the fact is that an unnecessary byelection is now being forced upon the people of Dhanpur. The same thing was done by the central leadership in West Bengal in 2021 where byelections were held after the two Lok Sabha MPs nominated by the party vacated the assembly seats they had won, and Trinamool Congress emerged victorious in the bypolls. Obviously, the situation in Tripura is slightly different with the BJP in power in the state and people generally favour the ruling party in all byelections. Having said that, retaining the Dhanpur seat is not going to be a cakewalk for the BJP.
Congress and TMC cold war over the Leader of Opposition in Meghalaya
There has been a cold war going on between the Congress and the TMC for the post of Leader of Opposition in the Meghalaya assembly. Both parties have five MLAs each. According to reports, Congress legislature party leader RV Lyndoh has given a letter to the Speaker stressing on the need for a Leader of the Opposition. It is learnt that he has asked the Speaker to recognise the grand old party as the main opposition party on account of the fact that it is a national party.
Former chief minister Mukul Sangma, after his hopes of becoming the CM again were dashed, is now trying to get at least the post of Leader of the Opposition, the TMC has maintained that the decision rests with the Speaker. The Voice of the People Party (VPP), a newly formed party, has four MLAs and is also in the Opposition.
Congress, TMC and VPP together account for 14 seats in the assembly. A party needs 10 seats (one-sixth of the total strength of the House) to get the post of the Leader of the Opposition. Another issue here is the lack of unity among the three opposition parties. If at least two of them unite, their leader can be nominated for the post. But everything rests with the Speaker, who has the complete authority to take the final decision on this issue.
After making inroads in Nagaland, RPI(A) targets Assam
Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale-led faction of the Republican Party of India has announced that the party will contest two seats in Assam in the Lok Sabha elections next year. Athawale said his party is going to contest from Barpeta and another yet-to-be-decided constituency. He said his party will contest as an NDA constituent and he will talk to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Home Minister Amit Shah about this.
In the recently concluded Nagaland elections, RPI(A) was successful on two seats — Tuensang Sadar-II and Noksen. It is for the first time that the Maharashtra-based party has been able to open its account outside the state. The two MLAs are supporting CM Neiphiu Rio-led NDPP-BJP government. Banking on this success, the party is trying to make inroads in other parts of the region.
In Assam, RPI(A) is aiming for Muslim-dominated seats — and Barpeta is one of those. Last time, Abdul Khaleque of the Congress won this seat, which the NDA had allotted to Asom Gana Parishad. AGP as an NDA constituent had contested three seats — Barpeta, Kaliabor and Dhubri — and lost. In these seats, Muslim voters play a crucial role.
Currently, the BJP-led NDA is packed with constituents and already there is the Bodoland People’s Front that has been cosying up to the BJP. It remains to be seen if the BJP accommodates RPI(A), which has no base in the state. In the recent elections in Tripura and Nagaland, the BJP didn’t allocate any seats to RPI(A), which tried its best to ally with the ruling party.
The author is a political commentator.
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