Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma, scion of the erstwhile Tripura royal family, said his two-year-old party, Tipra Motha, has now become the second biggest party in Tripura after it bagged 13 seats in its debut election. The party, which has campaigned on the demand for a 'Greater Tipraland', appears to have eaten into the BJP ally IPFT's tribal support base.
"The two-year old party has become the second biggest party in Tripura due to blessing of people. We might have moved a little backward but moving from 0-13 is big for us," ANI quoted Debbarma as saying.
Debbarma said his party would extend help to the government "as and when they need".
"We are the second largest party so we will sit in the constructive opposition but will not sit with CPM or Congress. We can sit independently. We will help the govt as and when they need," ANI quoted the Tipra Motha chief as saying.
The Bharatiya Janata Party ensured another term in office in Tripura, winning 32 seats on its own. Its alliance partner in Tripura, the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura, managed to get only 1 seat. It had got eight seats five years back.
The Left Front-Congress alliance, however, failed to ebb the saffron wave as it managed to garner just 14 seats.
Speaking on the poor performance of Congress in the Tripura election, Debbarma said, "Congress was my parent party. Congress has got less seats, three people have won from Congress. I have worked under all of them and I thank them."
"AICC needs to introspect why people like Pradyot leave the party...Congress thought back then that I was of no use, maybe Congress made mistakes somewhere," he further said.
Debbarma rose to prominence in Tripura after his newly floated tribal party swept the autonomous district council polls in April last year within months of its formation. Debbarma's strong pitch for 'Greater Tipraland', comprising all areas where the tribals of Tripura reside, found resonance among the indigenous population.