BJP’s election mantra is development: Tripura CM

Alliance among the INDIA bloc parties are an eyewash to dupe the people while the BJP-led NDA is fighting the parliamentary elections on developmental issues and to continue the welfare of the people, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha said here on Saturday after launching a mega election campaign.

“Our election mantra is development and welfare of people,” Saha said.

The Chief Minister said that the so-called INDIA bloc is an opportunistic alliance practically they have no faith in each other, adding “how they would do welfare of the people when the parties have no confidence among themselves.”

Organised by Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP, a massive first-ever roadshow was held here on Saturday as part of the election campaign ahead of the polling to the two Lok Sabha constituencies – Tripura West and Tripura East – and by-elections to the Ramnagar assembly seat on April 19 and April 26.

Besides Chief Minister, state BJP President Rajib Bhattacharjee, former Chief Minister and BJP candidate for Tripura West Lok Sabha seat Biplab Kumar Deb, party candidate for Tripura East Lok Sabha seat ‘Maharani’ Kriti Singh Debbarma and other state leaders led the roadshow.

Saha later talking to the media said that the main focus of the elections is the development and progress of the country under the ten-year governance of the BJP-led government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He also defended the candidature (BJP) of ‘Maharani’ Kriti Singh Debbarma against allegations of being an outsider, Saha asserted that her roots in Tripura as she is the scion of the Tripura royal family and daughter of Maharaj Kirit Bikram Debbarma.

A resident of Chhattisgarh, Debbarma is the elder sister of Tipra Motha Party (TMP) supremo and royal scion Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman.

Echoing Saha's sentiments, Dipak Majumder, BJP candidate for Ramnagar assembly by-elections, reiterated that this election is being held purely on the basis of the developmental agenda undertaken by the BJP.

Majumder, incumbent Mayor of the Agartala Municipal Corporation, expressed full confidence of his victory in the Ramnagar assembly seat, where the by-poll was necessitated after it fell vacant following the demise of sitting BJP MLA, Surajit Datta, on December 28 last year.

The BJP won both seats for the first time in 2019, with Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik (Tripura West) and teacher-turned-politician Rebati Tripura (Tripura East) emerging triumphant.

However, both have been dropped this time.

Both Bhoumik and Tripura were not seen in the election campaign so far.