Congress & Left Front forge historic alliance in Tripura to challenge BJP dominance

AGARTALA: For the first time in Tripura’s 72-year electoral history, the Congress and Left parties have forged an alliance to jointly contest the parliamentary elections, presenting a unified front against the BJP.

In the previous Tripura assembly election, both the Congress and Left parties unitedly opposed the ruling party.

The primary contest for the Tripura West Lok Sabha seat will feature the BJP's candidate and former Tripura chief minister, Biplab Kumar Deb, against the state Congress president, Ashish Kumar Saha, who is the candidate representing the INDIA bloc.

Tripura Congress president Ashish Kumar Saha, along with sitting Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman, resigned from the BJP in February 2022, having been elected to the state assembly on the party's tickets in March 2018.

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Of Tripura's two Lok Sabha seats — Tripura West and Tripura East — the Tripura West constituency has historically been the focal point of electoral attention, having been won by the CPI-M 11 times since 1952.

In last year's assembly polls in Tripura, Saha and Barman contested as Congress nominees against the BJP, with Barman successfully retaining his seat, though Saha was unsuccessful.

The Left Front has traditionally contested against the Congress in each election, with the Congress last coming to power in Tripura in 1988 after defeating the Left parties.