Opposition Parties – CPIM, Congress and TIPRA Motha Party (TMP) – will put up a Candidate for the post of Speaker for the Tripura Legislative Assembly. The election to the Post of Speaker will be held on March 24 next and nomination forms are to be submitted by 1 pm on March 23.
Addressing a press conference in Agartala on Monday (March 20), Tripura Pradesh Congress president Birajit Sinha announced that after a discussion between the leaders of the Congress, CPIM and TMP it was decided that Congress MLA Gopal Chandra Roy will contest as the Opposition candidate for the Speaker of the Assembly for which election would be held on March 24 next.
| Watch video of Press Conference |
“CPIM MLA Jitendra Chowdhury will propose Congress MLA Gopal Chandra Roy’s name first for the Speaker’s post which will be seconded by TIPRA Motha Party”, Sinha told the media today.
The joint strength of the Opposition parties – TIPRA Motha Party, CPIM and Congress – in the 13th Tripura Assembly is 27 (TMP 13, CPIM 11 and Congress 3) while the ruling BJP-IPFT has 32 (BJP 31 and IPGT 1) MLAs, at present. One seat fell vacant after Union MoS and BJP’s candidate from Dhanpur Constituency Pratima Bhowmik resigned before taking oath as per ‘Central leaders’ directives’.
TMP contested the Assembly election in over 40 seats alone – without forming an alliance with the ruling BJP or joining in seat-sharing arrangements with CPIM and Congress. Before the election results were out, it was expected by the TMP that even if it fails to attain a majority, it would emerge as the ‘king maker’. However, with 13 seats in its kitty, the party could manage to become the second largest party closely followed by CPIM with 11 seats and the latter’s seat-sharing partner Congress with three MLAs.
As Sinha announced that TMP will second the name of the Gopal Chandra Roy – implying that TMP has agreed to team up with the Congress and CPIM, several questions pertaining to its ‘no compromise’ stand have cropped up among the people.
TMP supremo Pradyot Kishore Debbarma underscored his ‘No compromise’ stance and did not go for alliance without written assurances for his ‘Constitutional rights’ of the indigenous people.
After the oath-taking ceremony of cabinet Ministers was over on March 8 last, Union Home Minister Amit Shah in presence of Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha and other top-level leaders held a meeting in Agartala with Pradyot Kishor Debbarma and his party leaders. Later, addressing a press conference, Debbarma said Shah assured Debbarma and other TMP leaders that an ‘interlocutor’ would be appointed to look into the matters by the TMP.
In the backdrop of such developments, Sinha’s claim that TMP agreed to team up with Congress and CPIM for the post of Speaker left many baffled.
Even as it is natural that being the second largest party, TMP would seize the opportunity to put forward an indigenous leader for the Speaker’s post – but it wisely did not do so as being a new party, its MLAs are inexperienced as far as modern legislative proceedings are concerned.
However, its decision – as claimed by Sinha – to propose a CPIM-Congress candidate may not go down well with the ground-level party activists who fought hard against the rejuvenated Congress-CPIM candidates in the Assembly polls.
