Gopal and Bishwabandhu file nomination for speaker’s post, Amit Shah calls Pradyot

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, March 23, 2023

Former deputy speaker Bishwabandhu Sen and senior Congress MLA Gopal Roy have filed nomination papers for election to the post of speaker tomorrow on the opening day of the new assembly’s first session. The speaker’s election will be preceded tomorrow by the governor Satyadeo Narayan Arya’s customary address-delivered as per constitutional norms on the opening day of the year’s first session.

The speaker’s election is necessitated by the decision of the opposition to put up a candidate for the post and go for contest. What has made the upcoming contest tomorrow interesting is the delicate balance of numerical representation of parties in the assembly . After the resignation of Pratima Bhowmik, the BJP now has only 31 MLAs plus one from the IPFT-that is, 32-while the combined opposition have altogether 27 MLAs comprising left front-11, Congress-03 and ‘Tipra Motha’-13. In terms of numbers the ruling BJP should have no problem in seeing its candidate through but all votes belonging to it must be cast for the party candidate Bishwabandhu Sen. The opposition combine is well aware of its numerical disadvantage but is still contesting to score a point , hoping for cross voting possibly.

But a tweet this morning from ‘Tipra Motha’ supremo Pradyot Kishore seems to have thrown further spanners on the opposition prospects . In his tweet Pradyot said that the union home minister Amit Shah had called him over phone this morning and said that the much-touted ‘interlocutor’ to go into Tripura’s tribal problems will be appointed on March 27, a day ahead of the scheduled end of the assembly session. Sources in the opposition camp said that Amit Shah’s phone call seems to be strategically timed to give traction to mercurial Pradyot to ensure that his party do not make common cause with the left front-Congress opposition and do not vote for them in the speaker’s election. Sources said that in view of Amit Shah’s telephonic contact with Pradyot , ‘Tipra Motha’ abstaining tomorrow from voting in the speaker’s election is a real possibility.An indication in this regard was available today as none of the 13 ‘Tipra Motha’ MLAs was present when Congress MLA Gopal Roy filed his nomination paper to Protem speaker Benoy Bhusan Das this morning.