Mamata Banerjee plans to break Trinamool’s Tripura Jinx this time

Agartal:

In Tripura, which is linked to the polls, the Trinamool Congress is making every effort, including organizing campaigns by party leader Mamata Banerjee, asking voters to get rid of the national parties – BJP, Congress and Left – and to choose Trinamool as an alternative.

While Trinamool is the main opposition party in Meghalaya, in Tripura it is a marginal player, contesting alone in less than half of Tripura’s seats.

But for Ms Banerjee, Tripura has been a political jinx she desperately wants to break.

“Everyone is talking about Bangla model. We are winning global awards. They told you they will give Rs 15 lakh. Did you get the money? Now even your LIC (Life Insurance Corporation) money will go,” said she said during her campaign in Tripra.

“We will not leave Tripura. We have a long association and I want to develop Tripura like I did in Bengal,” Ms. Banerjee said at the rally.

The party is trying to gain a foothold in the northeastern state ahead of next week’s election. Tripura is a crucial state for Trinamool’s national expansion plans.

After a failed bid in Goa, Trinamool contests 28 of the 60 state seats. A Trinamool state unit was formed in Agartala in 1999. In 2016, six Congress MPs joined Trinamool in Tripura, but a year later they all joined the BJP.

Trinamool won less than 1% of the vote in the 2018 state elections, a poll which the BJP won by a landslide victory.

Since Ms. Banerjee formed Trinamool, she has tried to make political inroads in Tripura. After Bengal, Tripura is the only state with a Bengali majority.

One of those who joined Trinamool briefly was Sudip Roy Burman, a politician who won elections continuously for more than two decades.

“Trinamool is not a factor. If someone came here as a vote cutter, people are aware enough. They know what happened to Trinamool in Goa or Manipur,” Burman said. , now a congressman.

He said BJP, who are looking to retain Tripura, dismissed Trinamool as a fringe player.

“This is not the first time Trinamools have come to Tripura. They have been coming here since 1999 when they were with the BJP. election results,” Deputy Chief Minister of Tripura and BJP leader Jishnu Dev Barma said.