No Alliance for ADC Village Committee Polls Unless Core Demands Are Met, Says TIPRA Motha MLA Ranjit and Pradyot Kishore Debbarma

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, August 8, 2026

TIPRA Motha Supremo Pradyot Kishore Debbarma and MLA Ranjit Debbarma on Friday firmly ruled out any pre-poll alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the upcoming Village Committee elections under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), stating that no discussions had been held either with BJP leaders in Tripura or with the party's central leadership regarding seat-sharing or an electoral understanding.

Pradyot, who is scheduled to reach New Delhi on Saturday to meet senior BJP leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and BJP National General Secretary BL Santosh dismissed media speculation that TIPRA Motha and the BJP had already reached a seat-sharing arrangement for the elections.

Speaking to local media from Shillong before his departure for Delhi, he described such reports as baseless and said no political alliance could be considered without concrete commitments from the Central Government on the party's long-pending greater Tipraland demands."If no meeting has taken place, the question of seat-sharing does not arise," Pradyot said, rejecting speculation surrounding a BJP-TIPRA Motha electoral understanding.

The TIPRA Motha chief also recalled that during the recently concluded ADC elections, several BJP leaders had made allegations against him and his party, adding that those developments could not simply be overlooked. He maintained that the current rumours regarding an alliance had no factual basis.Pradyot asserted that the immediate priority should be the implementation of the tripartite agreement signed among the Union Government, the Government of Tripura and TIPRA Motha.He urged the Centre to fulfil its commitments concerning land rights, language rights and constitutional safeguards for the indigenous people of Tripura before any political realignment or electoral alliance could be considered.According to him, unless the BJP demonstrates concrete progress on these issues, TIPRA Motha will fight the Village Committee elections independently.Announcing the party's electoral strategy, TIPRA Motha MLA Ranjit Debbarma said TIPRA Motha would contest all 587 Village Committee seats across the TTAADC.

"Our objective is to secure a decisive mandate at the grassroots level and strengthen local self-governance across the ADC," he said.The Village Committee elections, expected to be held in September 2026, will be the first such elections conducted in nearly a decade.Both TIPRA Motha MLA Ranjit Debbarma and Tipra Motha Founder

Pradyot Kishore Debbarma also highlighted that TIPRA Motha had approached first the Tripura High Court and later the Supreme Court seeking directions for the conduct of the long-pending Village Committee elections. According to them, the judicial intervention ultimately paved the way for the polls.

Reiterating the party's ideological position, Pradyot said TIPRA Motha's principal demand continues to be a permanent constitutional solution for the indigenous communities of Tripura.

The party's key demands include:Creation of Greater Tipraland, a separate state for the 19 indigenous tribes of Tripura under Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution. Constitutional safeguards to protect the social, cultural, economic and political rights of the indigenous population. Enhanced land rights and legal protection for tribal communities.Recognition and protection of indigenous languages and scripts.Direct financial allocations to the TTAADC for faster development.

Greater political representation for tribal communities in both the TTAADC and the Tripura Legislative Assembly.

Pradyot maintained that these commitments must be fulfilled before TIPRA Motha considers any electoral partnership with the BJP.Pradyot and Ranjit along with Brisaketu Debbarma is expected to meet senior BJP leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, during his visit to New Delhi tomorrow. Political observers believe the discussions may focus on the implementation of the tripartite agreement and the future political relationship between the BJP and TIPRA Motha.

Meanwhile, political speculation continues in some quarters that Pradyot Kishore Debbarma could be considered for appointment as the Governor of a state and that TIPRA Motha's second-in-command, MLA Ranjit Debbarma, may be inducted into the Tripura Council of Ministers as part of a broader political understanding.

However, there has been no official confirmation from either the BJP or TIPRA Motha regarding these reports, and both remain speculative at this stage.

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