Former Tripura CM and BJP candidate Biplab Kumar Deb campaigns for Lok Sabha elections.
Credit: PTI Photos
Agartala: Tribal outfits such as the Tipra Motha were formed not to defeat the BJP but to 'uproot' the CPI(M), senior BJP leader Biplab Kumar Deb said on Wednesday.
Addressing an election rally in Bagma, he said tribals have come out of the 'grip' of the Left which ignored their aspirations.
"There was a time when the communists used to proudly say that they started their election campaign by winning the 20 ST-reserved assembly seats. Now, those days are gone. Tribals have come out of your grip for ignoring their aspirations," said Deb, the BJP candidate of the Tripura West constituency.
"Tribal parties such as TUJS, INPT, IPFT and Tipra Motha were not formed to defeat the BJP or Narendra Modi, they came into existence to uproot the communists from the state as they used indigenous people as their vote bank for 30 years," he added.
Deb, the former CM of Tripura and a sitting Rajya Sabha MP, also attacked CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury for calling Tipra Motha chief Pradyot Debbarma a 'traitor'.
"Pradyot 'Maharaj' was good when he gave you a free run in last year's assembly election in Sabroom by not fielding a candidate. The same man became a traitor when he met PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for the welfare of the indigenous people," he said.
Deb said that while the CPI(M) was putting in all efforts to defeat Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Kerala, the two parties have joined hands in Tripura.
He urged people to vote for the BJP and ensure a third term for PM Modi.
The Tipra Motha, which emerged as the principal opposition party in the state by securing 13 seats in last year's assembly elections, joined the BJP-led government last month.
The CPI(M) has been claiming that it would have won the assembly votes if the Tipra Motha had not created a division in anti-BJP votes, paving the way for the ruling party to return to power for a second consecutive term.