Tripura will go to the polls on February 16. Votes will be counted on March 2.
Rivals, beware. Tripura Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma, in an exclusive interview to NDTV, has dismissed the challenge from opposition parties and declared that the ruling BJP will retain power in the state.
"Tripura is important for us and we will retain Tripura for second consecutive time. In last five years, we have worked for the development of the state after CPI(M) misrule for 25 years. CPI(M) had created a reign of terror in the state through violence," said Mr Varma.
The Tripura BJP has finalised the seat-sharing deal with old ally Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT). The BJP will contest in 55 constituencies and the junior partner in the coalition has been given five constituencies, four less than what it got in the 2018 polls.
The BJP-IPFT combine swept to power in 2018 assembly election replacing the 25-year-old Left Front regime winning 43 seats in the 60-member assembly. The BJP bagged 35 seats and the IPFT eight.
The Congress and the Left Front have formed an alliance to face the ruling BJP in the state. Last week, the Left Front announced the candidates for 47 of the 60 assembly seats. The Congress will contest the remaining 13 seats.
"It's an unholy alliance between the Congress and CPI(M) in Tripura which will not work. Both the parties have betrayed their cadres by forming the unholy alliance. They are the two sides of same coin," the Deputy Chief Minister said.
"Violence is the trade mark of CPI(M). Earlier, Bengali and tribal people living peacefully in Tripura but in 1980 communal violence started in the state. The CPI(M) regime support violence and through it they regained power in the state and ruled for 25 years. In 2018, they were defeated by the BJP," he added.
The Deputy Chief Minister also dismissed the challenge from Trinamool, saying the party lacks in ideology.
"Trinamool has been coming to Tripura since 1999, they open shutter and see the results and go to Kolkata. They are not a factor for us in this election," he underlined.
"Without ideology, the party cannot survive. We are a party who believes in ideology," he added further.
Tripura will go to the polls on February 16. Votes will be counted on March 2.