Former BJP state chief resigns over denial of poll ticket

Former Tripura BJP chief Ronajoy Kumar Deb has resigned from the party after being denied a ticket for the February 18 state polls.

Ronajoy Kumar Deb was BJP’s Tripura Pradesh President for five years, from 2001. In his letter to state party president Biplab Kumar Deb, he said: “Since the party has decided not to nominate me in the assembly elections... I have decided to resign from the party.” Deb had written his resignation letter on January 27 but released it to the media on Saturday. Terming the resignation as “unfortunate and unexpected”, BJP spokesperson Mrinal Kanti Deb said he had joined the party in early 80’s and had worked a lot for it. “He should not quit the party over mere denial of party ticket.”

The BJP is contesting 51 seats in the 60-member Tripura Assembly. It has left nine seats for its ally, the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura, a tribal-based party agitating for creation of a separate state containing Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council areas.

Meanwhile, state BJP President Biplab Kumar Deb on Saturday claimed that around 1,635 supporters of the ruling CPI-M and other parties joined the BJP on Saturday.

AGARTALA:

The green shoots the Congress sees in Rajasthan could be a precursor to the crop it might harvest in the assembly polls later this year. But for the expected to happen, the party will need to iron out competing ambitions within — controlling temperaments, balancing egos in sync with the popular mood.

The conundrum requires quick resolution. For now there aren’t two but three aspirants to the chief ministerial slot: Ashok Gehlot, Sachin Pilot and Jitendra Singh.

If the Ajmer seat the Congress wrested from the BJP was earlier held by Pilot, Alwar is Singh’s erstwhile constituency.

Together with Gehlot, credit is due to them for the party’s stellar show in the state which, by most accounts, is a low-hanging fruit for the Congress.

It would help perhaps if the leadership blend is a replication of Punjab, where seasoned campaigner Amarendra Singh led the show with Navjot Sidhu pumping extra energy into the campaign.

That poll-time symbolism has lately been under a cloud in Punjab. But the problem seems containable. In Rajasthan, however, Gehlot does not, unlike Amarendra, belong to a dominant caste. His value is in his amenable persona, pan-Rajasthan appeal and understated social identity. A Mali (horticulturist) by caste, he poses no societal challenge to other groups: the Gujjars, Meenas, Rajputs and Jats. Muslims in any case are without option. But Gehlot’s previous tenures as chief minister had him at the receiving end of the Jat anger. Likewise, Sachin’s Gujjar community is forever uncomfortable with the Meenas and Singh’s Rajput clansmen don’t see eye to eye with the Jats. These inter-caste complexities demand special care, both in terms of candidate selection and emphasis on individuals while setting up the electoral

NEW DELHI: