Ruling allies BJP, IPFT on collision course

AGARTALA: With conflict between ruling partners BJP and Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) escalating by the day, the alliance is on the verge of breakdown.
IPFT's defiant stand, declaring that it would launch its statehood movement again and announcing that it would "reconsider" its partnership with BJP, has not gone down well with the saffron party. The BJP leadership has deputed general secretary Ram Madhav, who is in charge of the party's affairs in the northeast, and North East Democratic Alliance convener Himanta Biswa Sarma to come up with the next course of action.They are expected to arrive here on Friday.
"After IPFT's threat, the BJP state coordination committee held a long discussion late into the night. Senior ministers, legislators and leaders were present, but the meeting was inconclusive," a senior BJP leader, who did not want to be named, said. The tribal leadership of the party now wants chief minister Biplab Deb to sever ties with IPFT - a demand that was backed by legislators present at the meeting.
According to BJP sources, the party's organizational strength has also dwindled over the past six months - largely because the anti-Left sentiment that brought it together has fizzled out. "The leaders expressed displeasure over the functioning of the government and the organizational set-up," the leader added.
Over the past few months, differences between the allies have cropped up over several matters - the demand for a separate tribal state, appointments to block advisory committees, BJP reportedly giving the cold shoulder to IPFT over seat sharing in Lok Sabha election and, most recently, political violence allegedly perpetrated by BJP workers in the run-up to the panchayat elections. Mixed-population areas in the state have been especially tense. On Tuesday night, a BJP office in Khowai's Behalabari area was reportedly burnt down by IPFT workers.
If IPFT were to make an exit, it would not affect the government's stability since BJP has absolute majority on its own. Besides, of the 20 tribal-reserved seats, BJP holds half. However, IPFT's influence cannot be brushed aside either - it won eight of the nine seats it contested in the assembly election in February and helped expand the alliance's reach to the tribal areas.