Agartala: With the polls around the corner, two political parties –Tipraland State Party and the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) Tipraha –on Friday merged with the Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) and announced the new name of their political party as Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance.
Speaking at a press conference, TIPRA chairman Pradyot Kishore Deb Barman said that the two parties have decided to merge with TIPRA and contest the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) as a single party.
Deb Barman, the chairman of TIPRA, said that if TIPRA is voted to power, a resolution demanding ‘Greater Tipraland’ will be passed in the district council.
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“The demand for the Tipraland is the only alternative for the existence of indigenous tribes in their land. The Tipraland statehood demand shall be the TTAADC areas including other indigenous inhabitations areas of the state,” the newly-floated political party said.
“A committee shall be constituted to identify as to what are the other indigenous inhabited areas in addition to TTAADC areas that should be proposed to be incorporated into greater Tipraland Statehood demand,” the press statement said.
No alliance will be forged with any one of the national political parties without a written power at the central government, Deb Barman said.
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Meanwhile, the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), an alliance partner of the ruling BJP in Tripura, is also likely to forge an alliance with TIPRA, which could be announced in a press conference later on Friday.
The High Court of Tripura on January 12 ordered the state government to conduct elections for the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) by May 17.
The TTAADC polls, earlier scheduled for May 2020, were deferred by the state election commission citing COVID-19 restrictions, following which administration was handed over to the Tripura governor for six months and later extended another six months on November 17.
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The TTAADC covers 68% of the total geographical area of the state and is home to over one-third of the total population of Tripura. The district council has 30 seats, of which 28 are for elected members, while two are nominated by the Tripura governor.
After resigning from the post of Pradesh Congress president in 2019 over differences with the higher leadership, Deb Barman started statewide agitations demanding the revision of the NRC in Tripura and opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
