IPFT, BJP ally in Tripura, rules out alliance for 2019 general elections

A day after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked three Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) leaders and 300 of its members for their alleged involvement in the murder of Tripura journalists – Santanu Bhowmik and Sudip Datta Bhowmik – the party’s leaders said they will not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The two run the coalition government in Tripura. The IPFT said that the BJP has already proposed names of its candidates without consulting them.

“The BJP has selected candidates and started preparations to contest on the two Lok Sabha seats. So, their decision is forcing us to contest independently,” IPFT assistant general secretary Mangal Debbarma said Monday, but did not specify if this means walking away from the coalition government in the state.

BJP general secretary Pratima Bhowmik said, “Our party has started preparations for the Lok Sabha polls but the IPFT should know that names of candidates are revealed just after declaration of Lok Sabha poll date.”

On the CBI issue, the IPFT opposed the ‘gossip’ about their leaders’ involvement in the murder of the two journalists, and said it was a conspiracy hatched by Opposition parties to tarnish its image. “We are yet to get full details on it. We demand the CBI to take stern action against the culprits but not at the cost of harassment of innocent IPFT leaders,” Mangal Debbarma said.

Santanu Bhowmik, a TV journalist was hacked to death on September 20, 2017 amid clashes between two rival groups. Two months later, a crime reporter of a Bengali daily, Sudip Datta Bhowmik was shot dead reportedly by a Tripura State Rifles (TSR) commandant at RK Nagar, 20km from the capital city.

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