Agartala, Jan 25, 2023, TT Desk/ IANS

Agartala, Jan 25: Like previous elections, Left Front, once again, became the first party in announcing the candidate list for all the 60 seats. Led by the CPM which will contest 43 seats, Left Front will fight in total 47 seats. The remaining 13 seats have been kept for Left Front’s new ally Congress.

Sources reported, Congress is unhappy that only 13 seats were spared for the party.

Announcing the names of candidates, Tripura Left Front convener Narayan Kar and CPM state Secretary Jitendra Chowdhury said former four-time Chief Minister and incumbent Opposition leader  Manik Sarkar, party stalwart Badal Chowdhury, three former ministers - Tapan Chakraborty, Sahid Chowdhury, Banulal Saha – and three other sitting members would not contest the elections.

Announcing the candidates, Kar said that of the 47 candidates, 24 are new faces and two are women.

When asked about the number of seats allotted to ally Congress, Jitendra Choudhury said initially 12 seats were allotted, but Congress leaders demanded to leave Dharmanagar Seat for them – for the sake of the unity of the Opposition, we accepted the demand and total 13 seats were kept for the Congress.

Choudhury also commented on the alliance with the Tipra Motha. He said, he had a dialogue with Tipra Motha supremo on Tuesday night. Choudhury said doors are still open for Tipra Motha.

Meantime, IANS reported, visibly unhappy Congress leader and the party's lone MLA Sudip Roy Barman said that they have first demanded 27 seats and then 23 seats from the Left parties.

"They (Left parties) have taken the decision as per their whims and wishes, we would go as per the whims and wishes of the people," Roy Barman told IANS.

Tripura state Congress President Birajit Sinha, who is now in Delhi, told IANS over the phone that the central leaders would hold meetings with CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and other Left leaders about the seat sharing arrangements.