Agartala, March 2 : At a time when a virtual jostling is all set to start in other parts of the country for obtaining Congress nomination for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, in Tripura the party is already hard put to find a strong candidate for the tribal East Tripura seat.
Fearing almost a certain loss — possibly an ignominious forfeiture of security deposit — no party leader has so far evinced any interest in contesting the polls.
Maharaja Pradyot Bikram Kishore Manikya, the scion of Tripura’s royal family, has already firmly refused to enter the poll fray for “personal reasons”.
Pradyot Bikram’s family has always been in the political limelight over the past four decades. His father Maharaja Kirit Bikram Kishore Manikya, last coronated royal heir-apparent of Tripura, had been Congress MP for two terms in 1967 and 1977.
His mother Rajmata Maharani Bibhu Kumari Debi had been MLA and minister for two consecutive terms between 1983-89 before becoming MP for two terms in 1989 and 1991.
“He had a natural advantage in electoral politics because of the traditional tribal loyalty to the royal family but possibly the young scion is not sure of the outcome this time with the Left Front having overwhelming swayed in the tribal-dominated areas of the state; that is why he may have expressed his reluctance to contest the polls,” a source in the state Congress said.
Sources said yesterday the AICC secretary in-charge of Tripura, Sanjay Baffna, presided over a meeting of the Pradesh election committee and asked party leaders to look for candidates who could pose a strong challenge to the CPM in the upcoming polls.
“In the absence of Maharaja Pradyot Kishore who would have been acceptable to all, now the issue is likely to be decided by factional equations,” the source said.
In the East Tripura seat, the Congress is likely to finalise the name either of Bhrigu Kumar Reang or Dibachandra Hrnagkhawal though the West Tripura general seat is still open,” the source said.
For the West Tripura seat, retired professor of Tripura University, Mani Deb’s name is being considered along with the names of a few other inconsequential candidates. Deb had lost the 2004 Lok Sabha polls but among other aspirants he “appears to be the most acceptable”.
Sources said Baffna would leave for Delhi tomorrow with a panel of names for each seat and the AICC would take the final decision.
“We are keeping our fingers crossed because, as it is, the Congress was unlikely even to put up a strong challenge to the CPM because of the discredited leadership of PCC president Samir Ranjan Barman and his son Sudip Roy Barman,” former Congress MLA and party vice-president Tapas De said.
