Tripura Alliance Meets Governor, Stakes Claim To Form Tribal Council

Tipraha Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA), which swept the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) elections winning 18 of the 28, has staked its claim to form the new council, sources in TIPRA said on Monday.

A delegation of TIPRA, led by its chairman Pradyot Kishore Deb Barman met Governor Ramesh Kumar Bais on Sunday evening and staked the claim to form the new council.

In the 30-member tribal council, elections were held in 28 seats on Tuesday and the results were declared on Saturday. Representatives in the remaining two seats will be nominated by the governor on the advice of the state government.

The TTAADC area comprises two-third of the states territory and is the home to the tribals, who constitute one-third of Tripuras population.

The TTAADC comes under the governor and we have placed the demand for forming the council. The government will notify the dates for the oath taking ceremony, Deb Barman told reporters after coming out of the Raj Bhavan on Sunday.

We want a clean and transparent government and we are committed to undertake developments in the tribal council area, he said.

Deb Barman, the scion of the Tripura royal family, said he will take oath as the chief executive member (CEM), the principal executive functionary of the tribal council.

He urged TIPRA supporters to maintain peace as celebrations broke out with the newly-formed party getting an absolute majority in the elections.

We have to maintain unity. I appeal to the people to refrain from attacking the party office and houses off IPFT, BJP, CPI(M) and Congress supporters. They too are our people and we do not want to fight among ourselves. They too will join our party after the elections, he said.

If we want unity then we have to maintain peace, he said even as there were reports of sporadic violence from different parts of the tribal council area.

Spokesperson of the ruling BJP, Nabendu Bhattacharya claimed that supporters and activists of the party were attacked, their houses and business establishments and many party offices ransacked and damaged.

Tripura BJP president Manik Saha has written to state Director General of police, VS Yadav on Sunday and urged him to take stern actions to stop the violence.

BJP Tripura Pradesh urges you to arrange for effective enforcement of law and order for peace, tranquility including communal harmony in the society and strict action may kindly be taken as per law in force, Sahas letter said.

Prohibitory orders were clamped at Mohanpur and Jirania sub divisions of West, Khowai and Gomati districts for 24 hours from Saturday evening following sporadic violence.

The TIPRA chief on Monday announced that he will not tolerate any violence or extortion in his name and stated that the party will not hold any victory rallies.

Police said the situation has been brought under control in the tribal council areas.