Merge Tipra Motha with Congress: CWC member to Pradyot Manikya Debbarma

Agartala: Congress Working Committee member Sudip Roy Barman on Monday called upon Tipra Motha supremo Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma to merge his party with the Congress for the betterment of the indigenous people.

Barman made the request on a day when over 7,000 Tipra Motha and CPI(M) workers, including former minister Manindra Reang, who had joined the regional party before the Assembly election earlier this year, joined the Congress.

"It was the Congress which gave due recognition to the royal palace. The maharaja (Kirit Bikram Manikya) and maharani (Bibu Kumari Devi) were made MPs by the Congress. The Motha supremo was made secretary of AICC and Tripura Pradesh Congress chief", he said during a party programme.

Asserting that he loves Motha supremo, Roy Barman said he still considers Pradyot Kishore as a member of the Indian National Congress (INC).

"I appeal to Motha supremo to merge his party with the Congress and take the lead role in Pradesh Congress. We will lend all possible help," he said.

Noting that the Congress had already accepted direct funding to Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), the party's veteran lawmaker said they also supported Roman script in Kokborok language.

Announcing that the Congress will intensify the fight for the rights of indigenous people, Roy Barman said the Adivasi Congress Party's frontal wing will stage a sit-in during the winter session of the Parliament in December or January for the cause.

Pradyot Kishore quit the Congress state president post in September 2019 and floated his own party, Tipra Motha, in 2021. His decision worked wonders as he won the election of TTAADC in the same year banking on his popular slogan Greater Tipraland. His party bagged 13 seats in the 60-member state Assembly polls in February 2023 and emerged as the main opposition party in the northeastern state.

Earlier in the day, AICC secretary Szarita Laitphlang and TPCC president Asish Kumar Saha welcomed 7,423 leaders and workers of Tipra Motha and CPI(M) to the party fold. The new joinees include former minister Manindra Reang, who joined the Tipra Motha before the Assembly election.