'Last Speech On Political Stage': Tipra Motha Chief Says Will Quit Politics After Tripura Polls

Debbarma said that many leaders have deserted him without understanding his feeling for putting up a fight for protecting the rights of poor people who have no food, shelter and education access.

Tripura Polls: Tipra Motha chairman Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma announces quitting politics.

Source : PTI

New Delhi: Tipra Motha chairman Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma on Tuesday announced that he will quit politics after the February 16 Tripura assembly elections and will never seek votes as ‘Bubagra’ (king), reported news agency PTI. 

Addressing a rally in Tripura’s Charilam on the last of poll campaign, the scion of the former royal family of Tripura said that many leaders have deserted him without understanding his feeling for putting up a fight for protecting the rights of poor people who have no food, shelter and education access.

“Today is my last speech on a political stage and I will never seek votes as a Bubagra after the assembly elections. It pained me but I have fought a tough battle for you,” he said.

The elections to the 60-member Tripura Legislative Assembly will be held on February 16 and votes will be counted on March 2. 

"It is sure Bubagra will not be in politics after March 2 but I will be with my people forever. I will work for healthcare, education, giving scholarships to the poor," he said, while addressing an election rally at Charilam, around 35 km from state capital Agartala.

Another member of the erstwhile royal family and Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Deb Varma is the BJP candidate from this seat. 

“He (Jishnu Debbarman) knows when I take a challenge, I see only the dofa (community). I will not give an inch of land to him in the battle,” he said. However, he added: “It is not a fight of the royal family... It is a fight for the poor who don’t have food, shelter and education".

Subodh Debbarma is the Tipra Motha nominee in Charilam constituency.

He also asserted that he is not anti-Bengali. 

"The family that helped and respects Rabindranath Tagore and Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose needs no certificate of not being anti-Bengali," he said.

The party is contesting 42 of the 60 seats in Tripura and has said that it might stake a claim to form government in case of a deadlock with no alliance or party able to gain majority in the ensuing three-cornered elections to the Tripura assembly.