Looks Like 'Operation Lotus' Is On: TIPRA Chief Claims IPFT Leaders Not Picking Up Calls

TIPRA chief Pradyot Kishore Deb Barma tweeted that all IPFT leaders have surprisingly stopped answering their phones, and that "Operation Lotus" appears to be underway.

Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) chief Pradyot Kishore Deb Barma on Saturday took to Twitter and alleged that it seems "Operation Lotus" is on, as he claimed, "All the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) leaders are surprisingly not picking up their calls".

His tweet comes a day after he announced that his party would run alone in the Tripura assembly elections.

TIPRA Motha chief Pradyot Kishore Deb Barma announced on Friday that his party will fight the Tripura assembly elections alone, two days after a party delegation met with representatives of the ministry of home affairs to discuss their demand for a separate state for indigenous people.

The Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) Motha, which Deb Barma founded after leaving the Congress, has been approached for an alliance by both the BJP and the Left-Congress combine, but he has maintained that the party will not enter into an alliance unless there is a written assurance that their primary demand will be met.

"No alliance - my heart does not agree, so I have made my decision that I cannot accept New Delhi's offer," Deb Barma wrote on Twitter on Friday. We may or may not win, but we will fight one more time. I will not betray our cause or our people."

He also said in a video message that every regional party in Tripura's history had betrayed the people. "Since 1977 every regional party representing indigenous people has brought back some agreement from Delhi before the elections. But when they're done, we'll have nothing," he said.

He told reporters on Friday that his party planned to run for 35 to 40 seats in the 60-member Tripura assembly, which will vote in a single phase on February 16. The assembly has 20 reserved seats for scheduled tribes, as per media reports. 

Since 1977, no tribal political party has run for office without first forming an alliance with a national party. In 2018, the IPFT, which Deb Barma has urged to be merged with the TIPRA Motha, fought in coalition with the BJP, breaking a two-decade CPI(M) stranglehold on government formation.

The Left-Congress alliance, on the other hand, stated that they were still open to talks.

Meanwhile, sitting CPM MLA from Kailasahar Mohammad Maboswar Ali and former Tripura Trinamool Congress chief Subal Bhowmik joined the BJP on Friday in the presence of Chief Minister Manik Saha. Bhowmik previously served in the BJP, but left in 2019 to join the Congress, and then the TMC in 2021.

(With Inputs From Agencies)