An alliance between the BJP and the Tipra Motha Party has not been discussed yet. Taking to Twitter after meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Tipra Motha Party chief Pradyot Debbarma said that the Home Minister has started the process for a constitutional solution for the indigenous people of Tripura.
An interlocutor for this process will be appointed soon, said Pradyot Debbarma.
Home Minister Amit Shah met a Tipra Motha Party delegation led by party supremo Pradyot Kishore Debbarma at a guest house in Agartala on Wednesday amid speculations on a possible alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
"I thank the Home Minister for understanding the genuine problems of the Son of the soil. We successfully got our Bru people rehabilitation in our state after 23 years by signing the Bru accord and today we have started a huge dialogue to ensure that our survival and existence are protected. Issues such as alliance and cabinet were never discussed only the interest of our dopha was discussed," Debbarma tweeted on Wednesday.
Pradyot Debbarma, a descendant of the former ruling family of Tripura, had been seeking a “constitutional solution” to demands by his party for a separate state of Tiprasa for a long time. His party won 13 seats in the recently concluded elections to the 60-member Tripura state assembly.
Speaking about the meeting between Shah and Debbarma, BJP leader Sambit Patra said: "We discussed briefly how the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) and Bharatiya Janata Party can work together for the development of Tripura. We discussed in the meeting the issues of the tribal community."
"We discussed how to solve these problems and how the indigenous community can get respect and honour in state itself. On women’s day, we have decided that two women from IPFT and two from BJP will be getting MoS rank," Sambit Patra said.
Echoing Patra, Debbarma said: "Our party will have a series of talks with IPFT, political, social parties, Motha. There was no demand from Tipra Motha, nor from the BJP. We will jointly come to a solution and take Tripura towards development. We are here for a constitutional solution for the indigenous community."
The meeting between BJP and TMP leaders came after the Tipra Motha seemed to have scaled down its demand of a separate Greater Tipraland. It wanted more administrative powers and direct funding to Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council.
The meeting was also attended by BJP president JP Nadda and Tripura’s newly sworn-in chief minister Manik Saha.