Top sources in CPM told India Today that the party may opt for an alliance with the Congress to take on the BJP in the 2023 Tripura Assembly election.
New Delhi,UPDATED: Dec 27, 2022 14:58 IST
The CPM politburo will discuss if Manik Sarkar will be the face of the party in Tripura. (Photo: File)
By Ashutosh Mishra: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) is likely to form an alliance with the Congress in Tripura to take on the BJP in the upcoming state Assembly election. The CPM, which ruled the state for more than two decades, lost the state to the BJP as Manik Sarkar-led party was defeated in the 2018 polls.
The CPM is now planning to retake it’s only northeastern bastion once again in the Assembly election which is scheduled to be held in February-March of next year.
A CPM politburo meeting is underway in New Delhi to discuss strategy, including a possible alliance with Congress. Similarly, the state unit would also discuss the same next month in Agartala.
READ | CPM crisis in Kerala: What’s behind the raging infighting?
Top sources in CPM told India Today that the party may opt for an alliance with the Congress to maximise its numbers against the ruling BJP. Party top sources said that so far there has not been any dialogue over this alliance with the Congress leadership.
However, sources told India Today that a decision about alliance with Congress will only be taken after taking all state units on board and after “calculating all future repercussions”.
After a final decision on alliance is taken by the CPM, it will engage with Congress and discuss the seat sharing in Tripura before the election, which could be an open alliance or a tactical alliance. But as per CPM, the initiative should not be considered as “political adjustment or alignment”.
The BJP-Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) alliance had swept the 2018 Tripura Assembly polls, winning a two-third majority in the 60-member House, thereby ending 25-year-long Left rule in the northeastern state. The BJP-IPFT combine won 43 seats in 2018. The BJP bagged 35 seats and the IPFT 8. The CPI(M) has 15 MLAs in the assembly. The Congress won one seat in a by-election held in June.
The CPM has been accusing the BJP of unleashing violence against its workers, while the BJP has always racked up past incidents of violence under Left rule.
The CPM politburo is also set to discuss if Manik Sarkar will be the face of the party in the state as he has been a successful chief minister. A tactical or open alliance with the Congress may not be so easy for the CPM as the Congress is its principal opposition in Kerala, the other state under Left rule.
