Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will win more seats in Tripura than in the 2018 elections.
Having completed a door-to-door campaign for BJP’s Agartala candidate Papia Dutta, the Assam CM, who is also the convener of North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) exuded confidence of the saffron party’s victory in the northeastern state in the upcoming assembly polls.
CM Sarma said, “I am confident that in the 2023 Assembly election, BJP will win more seats than the 2018 Assembly election in Tripura. What I am observing is that the wave is nice, and people’s will towards BJP is also good. They also love PM Modi which eventually indicates that BJP will win in more seats than the 2018 election in Tripura.”
Speaking about the seat sharing between Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM), Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed that the workers of both the parties will not cast votes for each other leaving both with zero seats in the end.
Moreover, taking a swipe at the Congress’ Agartala candidate Sudip Roy Barma, CM Sarma said that he has failed miserably in performing his duty towards the upliftment of his area. He said that BJP’s candidate Papia Dutta will be the perfect alternative for the people as she is young, energetic, has a good image and commands respect in the party.
It may be noted that Himanta Biswa Sarma on February 3 addressed a public gathering where he asked the people of the state to not waste their vote on TIPRA Motha.
While addressing a gathering at Krishnapur assembly constituency in the Khowai district of Tripura, CM Sarma made the appeal stating that TIPRA will not be able to form the government and hence any vote towards them would be wasteful.
Speaking to reporters there, the NEDA convenor said, “What is Tipraland...you have to divide Tripura to get Tipraland.”
CM Sarma also claimed that the BJP was in talks with the TIPRA Motha chief Pradyot Debbarma for a possible union. He said that in a series of meetings in Guwahati earlier, the saffron party offered a complete package for the development of Tripura, its languages and the economy of the tribal people.
He said, “BJP is ready for any kind of devolution but do not ask to divide Tripura.”
Meanwhile, CM Sarma also asserted that it was the royal family of the TIPRA Motha chief Pradyot Debbarma that had created the state of Tripura and further division would be going against that. “Division of Tripura is not acceptable to BJP,” he said.
