Political ambience in the run-up to the ADC polls and by-election to Dharma Nagar becoming contentious

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, March 16, 2026

With the crucial elections to the ADC just round the corner the fissures in the state’s political and party equations have started coming out to growing unease among parties and their support base. Apart from the shadow boxing between the coalition partners , the BJP and ‘Tipra Motha’ , the opposition Congress and CPI (M) are also riven by widening differences over seat adjustment issues.

Soon after the CPI (M)’s unilateral announcement of candidature for the by-election to Dharma Nagar assembly constituency, the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) after a meeting lashed out at the CPI (M) leadership on the ground that their unilateral announcement had not been preceded by any consultation with the Congress that had fought the Dharma Nagar seat as part of the poll alliance between the two parties in the 2023 assembly election. The CPI (M) state secretary and leader of the opposition in state assembly Jiten Chowdhury sought to justify his party’s unilateral declaration , referring to Congress’s lack of organizational strength and presence in Dharma Nagar. Bur yesterday while addressing a gathering of party faithfuls in Dharma Nagar senior Congress leader and MLA Sudip Roybarman took the matter further by asking the CPI (M) to withdraw its candidate and concede the seat to Congress . He also threatened to expose the so-called misdeeds of CPI (M) committed over the twenty five year period between 1993-2018 unless the CPI (M) withdrew its candidate from the by-poll fray. That issue is still unresolved but the state CPI (M) leadership is unlikely to oblige Sudip.

Apart from this, the war of words between the BJP and its coalition partner the ‘Tipra Motha’ has also been continuing unchecked . Yesterday the ‘Tipra Motha’ chief Pradyot Kishore who has been indulging in theatrics on daises charged the BJP with failure to address the needs and demands of indigenous people in their governance of the state. “The BJP will pay price for this in the ADC election because of their failure to address the issues of development in the tribal dominated ADC areas” said Pradyot. This elicited a strong reply from the chief minister Dr Manik Saha who charged the ADC authority or , inter alia, Pradyot with ‘vaulting ambition’ (to become chief minister) , gross corruption in ADC and failure to deliver on tall promises on development. Sources said that the distance between BJP and Tipra Motha is growing at an alarming rate and the consequences may be serious.

Apart from this , the ‘Tipra Motha’ itself is rent by dissensions as evident from a statement made by party MLA Ranjit Debbarama in a poll meeting. “When the ‘Maharaja’ formed the party before the last ADC election he also inducted a rotten egg which is now sullying the party and its other leaders and cadres” said Ranjit in a clear dig at a ‘Motha’ minister who is reported to have already reached Delhi as a prelude to his ultimate defection from the party. This statement of Ranjit has not gone down very with a section of ‘Tipra Motha’ rank and file who never wanted the rift within the party to widen. “There are differences within each and every party but steps should be taken to cover up and resolve the differences within in stead of doing anything to widen it; now we have to wait and watch only to see what happens” said a leader of ‘Tipra Motha’.

more news...