AGARTALA: Nomination of state
BJP president Manik
Saha
for the election to the lone Rajya Sabha seat, scheduled on March 31, has driven a wedge between
Tripura
chief minister Biplab Kumar
Deb
’s camp and his dissidents.
For three years, the state BJP has been suffering from factional feud over the leadership and functioning of the CM-led government. A large number of leaders has been opposing Saha as the party chief and recently, a group of BJP leaders sought his resignation.
In 2016, the BJP central leadership had made Deb the state party president despite him losing the election. After becoming the president, Deb brought Saha into the party fold. He was given the primary membership and in January 2020, he became Deb’s successor.
According to dissidents, three-decade-old BJP workers such as Ram Prasad Paul, Pradyot Dhar and
Tapas Bhattacharjee
have been sidelined in the party by the CM-led group. All turncoats, who have joined from CPM and Congress, have been inducted into the party’s core committee and functioning of the government became disconnected from the party line, which led to infighting and desertion, they added.
The nomination of a veteran Communist leader, former finance minister and sitting CPM legislator Bhanu Lal Saha for Rajya Sabha indicated the Left’s plan to cash in on the dissidence of BJP MLAs who are against Saha. According to reports, a large section of party leaders have been persuading for the nomination of an old BJP worker or a woman candidate belonging to the tribal community. So, Saha’s nomination further widened the gap between BJP and its alliance partner, IPFT.
A senior BJP state functionary said a few BJP MLAs and IPFT are not happy with Saha’s nomination as it was done through the influence of a vested quarter.
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