Former Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar on Sunday said the people who were discontent with the BJP might not necessarily all vote for the CPI(M) in next year's assembly elections. Addressing a programme of the CPI(M)'s women's wing, Sarkar claimed people are frustrated and angry with the BJP.
"It's a fact that 40 per cent combined vote share of the Congress and Indigenous National Party of Tripura (INPT) was almost transferred to the BJP-IPFT alliance in the 2018 assembly elections. And, it had massively helped the BJP to ensure the defeat of the CPI(M)-led Left Front government," he said.
"The people are frustrated and angry with the BJP. The IPFT has lost its grip over the state's hilly areas during the last four and a half years. However, it doesn't mean that all the angry voters of the two parties will support the Left in the coming election," he added.
Sarkar, the leader of the opposition in the assembly, said a significant section of leaders, workers and voters of IPFT has already moved to the Tipra Motha, dreaming of having a greater Tipraland.
"The Congress, whose vote share had reduced to less than 2 per cent in the 2018 polls, has been making all-out efforts to get back its vote bank. Therefore, CPI(M) leaders and workers should work to get the angry voters to your fold as much as possible," he exhorted.
The BJP, which had less than 2 per cent vote share in Tripura in the 2013 elections, polled over 44 per cent of the votes, winning 36 seats in the 60-member house in the 2018 elections. "The present government is likely to hold recruitment drives or release DA for state employees before the election to woo the voters, but this will not be enough for the BJP to win the polls," Sarkar said.
Elections are due in Tripura early next year.
(With PTI Inputs)
