Tripura People’s Front (TPF), which has partial influence over the State’s indigenous communities, on Sunday merged with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at a programme attended by Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and senior leaders of the party. TPF president Patal Kanya Jamatia said she took the decision after closely observing the “pro-people governance” of the BJP-led State government, which has completed four years in office.
Ms. Jamatia, who is known as a tribal chauvinist and has been criticised for her controversial rhetoric against alleged Bangladeshi infiltrators, kept a low profile at the joining programme. She reportedly agreed to join the BJP in place of becoming a member of the Northeast Democratic Alliance (NEDA) after holding meetings with Mr. Deb here and Assam Chief Minister and NEDA chairman Himanta Biswa Sarma at Guwahati.
TPF’s merger with the BJP assumed significance amid the rapid surge of the Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Alliance (TIPRA) led by the State’s royal scion, Pradyot Kishore Debbarman. TIPRA recently held a massive rally here to press for its demand for a “greater Tipraland”.
