BJP ally IPFT wants its own gallery in Tripura assembly

AGARTALA: Crisis within Tripura's ruling coalition appears to have worsened, with BJP's ruling ally Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) seeking a separate gallery for its legislators in the assembly.
IPFT general secretary and tribal welfare minister Mevar Kumar Jamatia has written to speaker Rebati Mohan Das to allot seats in a separate gallery for the eight MLAs of the party. Acknowledging that such a request has indeed been made by the tribal-based party, Das said several clarifications have been sought from Jamatia.
"All ministers have been allotted seats in the first row of the treasury bench, as is the norm. They are followed by MLAs, arranged by seniority. IPFT president NC Debbarma has been allotted the third seat, after the chief minister and deputy chief minister. Mevar Kumar Jamatia was given a first row seat since he is a minister. How can they be separated as long as they are ministers?" Das asked.
In the 60-member assembly, BJP has 36 legislators while IPFT has eight. The sole opposition party, CPM, has 16. The eight-member state cabinet, headed by chief minister Biplab Deb, has two IPFT ministers. Over the past few months, however, the ruling partners have been at loggerheads.
The rift goes back to the Lok Sabha election, when the two parties contested separately. IPFT's demand for a seat sharing agreement had been denied by BJP. Both IPFT candidates forfeited their deposits, while BJP ended up winning both seats in the state. What followed was a series of clashes between workers of the two parties. Last week, IPFT leaders met Union home minister Amit Shah, presumably to discuss the widening gap between the allies in the state.
By now, the rift is out in the open. Two days ago, deputy chief minister Jishnu Dev Varma brought more than 700 IPFT supporters in Sepahijala district into the BJP fold.
In response, IPFT leaders said they never poach BJP's support base, respecting the coalition principle, and had expected the same from the saffron party. "BJP and IPFT had been fighting against Congress and CPM till the Lok Sabha election. Now, it appears BJP has targeted IPFT supporters, which doesn't give healthy signal at ground level. We tried hard to fight together against Congress and CPM but it seems may not be possible because of big brother attitude of local BJP leadership," said a senior IPFT leader.
With the crucial Autonomous District Council election tentatively scheduled to be conducted in April next year, the IPFT is working to boost the morale of its rank and file and retain its base by thwarting BJP's attempt to disrupt the party's organization.