The Tripura BJP has rubbished reports that many of its state party leaders including several top MLAs are mulling to join the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
“All our MLAs are with us,” Tripura BJP president Manik Saha said.
Manik Saha said that all is well within the saffron party in the State.
However, he said that any differences among the leaders would be ironed out through discussion, thus confirming the speculated rift within the BJP ranks in Tripura.
“Differences emerge in a family. These will be sorted out through discussions,” Tripura BJP president Manik Saha said.
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Amid widespread speculations of several top ‘dissident’ BJP leaders in Tripura all set to jump ship and join the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC), the saffron party’s senior central leaders are camping in Agartala, trying to resolve differences among the party’s state leaders.
BJP central leaders – party’s national general secretary BL Santosh, organizational general secretary of Tripura Phanindra Nath Sharma and Northeast zonal secretary Ajay Jamwal are in Agartala on a two-day visit, holding series of meetings with the party’s state leaders.
The three BJP central leaders on Wednesday held discussions with all the top party leaders in the State including MPs and MLAs and all the State ministers.
32 MLAs were present in the meeting with the BJP central leaders. Four BJP MLAs: Binay Bhusan Das, Sambhu Lal Chakma, Biswabandhu Sen and Diba Chandra Hrangkhwal were absent.
Meanwhile, sources within the BJP claim that senior party leader and MLA Sudip Roy Barman was offered a cabinet berth, which Barman refused to accept.
This visit of the central BJP leaders was necessitated following speculations flying thick and fast that many of the saffron party MLAs are all set to join the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
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It may be mentioned here that one faction within the Tripura BJP has been in direct conflict with Chief Minister Biplab Deb, ever since he removed senior party leader Sudip Roy Barman from the cabinet in 2019.
Notably, Tripura BJP MLA Sudip Roy Barman is a loyalist of Mukul Roy, who recently had quit the BJP and re-joined the TMC.
On the other hand, Tripura TMC president Ashish Lal Singh had claimed that several top-level BJP leaders in Tripura are in talks with the TMC leadership “to oust Biplab Kumar Deb led corrupt and vindictive government from power”.
He further said that workers from the BJP, Congress and the CPI-M in Tripura are joining the TMC in large numbers after Mamata Banerjee secured a landslide victory in West Bengal despite tall claims of the BJP.