BJP’s East Tripura candidate from Chhattisgarh evokes reaction

Agartala, Mar 19  While the opposition questioned the contribution of BJP’s nominee for the East Tripura (ST) constituency - a defeated MLA from Chhattisgarh, Kriti Singh Debbarma, to Tripura, ruling BJP workers sought clarification on her eligibility to become a candidate of the saffron party in the ST reserved seat.
The former BJP state president and veteran saffron leader Ranajoy Deb asked when she got BJP membership and whether Kriti possesses an ST certificate from Tripura. “If Kriti becomes a member of the BJP, how do TIPRA Motha workers, including the ADC Chief Executive Member with their party flag and slogan, be escorted to the palace from the airport,” Deb questioned.
According to the ECI report, Kriti Devi Singh fought the 2018 election in Chhattisgarh’s Kawardha as an independent candidate but lost. This time, the BJP made her a candidate from the East Tripura tribal reserved constituency, where her name has been changed to Kriti Singh Debbarma.
“Although Kriti was born into the Tripura royal family, she was brought up in Shillong and passed only Class X from Loreto Convent School Shillong in 1992. After getting married to Yogeshwar Raj Singh of the Kawardha Raj family in Chhattisgarh, Kriti has no association with Tripura, but the BJP made her candidate to sway the TIPRA Motha voters without considering the sentiment of BJP supporters who have suffered a lot at the hands of TIPRA in the last five years,” a senior BJP leader opined.
He questioned whether BJP leaders wanted to sacrifice the seat to TIPRA Motha to make Pradyot Kishore Debbarma happy; they could have chosen a popular tribal leader from Tripura who has contributed to the development of tribals in the state. Moreover, both the mother and father of Pradyot were MPs at least three times from the East Tripura constituency but did not do anything for the tribals, he alleged.
He reacted sharply to Pradyot’s statement, “I am very happy and glad that a candidate from our side, my sister, has been chosen to represent. I don’t want any blockade in implementing our agreement, signed recently with the central and state governments. We want to send the right person. She will be the best candidate who will work to solve our problems within a timeframe.”
The statement evoked serious reactions in TIPRA Motha. Motha legislator Chitta Debbarma asked how Pradyot claimed that only Kriti Singh could speak for the community, as if no other TIPRA Motha leader was capable of speaking in Parliament for the community.
“His sister was never known to be in politics, nor is she known to have ever taken any interest in the indigenous community and their development. We feel there are several other leaders in the party better than Kriti,” Debbarma observed, adding that her candidature has downgraded the status of Tripura, as if BJP and TIPRA Motha don’t have a candidate to go to Parliament and for which parties need to import a lady from Chhattisgarh.
Meanwhile, veteran Congress leader and former BJP minister Sudip Roybarman on Friday lashed out at TIPRA Motha and the BJP and said the tripartite agreement signed by Motha was an ‘eyewash’. “I am unable to make out what the agreement means for the tribals of Tripura; this is worse than what had been signed earlier by the same union home ministry with the IPFT; nothing concrete has been conceded in the agreement, and how TIPRA Motha accepted and signed this is beyond my comprehension,” said Sudip.
He also slammed the ‘Motha’ leadership for nominating Kirti Singh as a candidate for the East Tripura (ST) Loksabha seat, and pointed out, “As far as we know, she had her education outside the state, and then she was married to Chhattisgarh and is now living in Jharkhand; she is ignorant of what is happening in Tripura and of the hopes and aspirations of tribal people; how can she represent them effectively,” he asked.
BJP State President Rajib Bhattacharjee declined to comment on the controversy.