The BJP on Saturday won a historic mandate in Tripura, where it won 43 out of 60 seats to form its first ever government in an otherwise Left bastion. The Left Front’s tally has now been reduced to 16 as opposed to 50 seats that it won in the last assembly polls.
The BJP’s vote share also increased from 1.5% to over 40% in this year’s elections. However, the BJP’s reaction has been anything but dignified. The party’s senior functionary and a minister Assam government, Himanta Biswa Sarma, told reporters that the outgoing chief minister of Tripura, Manik Sarkar could not take shelter in Bangladesh.
“Manik Sarkar has just three options before him. He can go to West Bengal, where the CPI-M still has some presence. He can go to Kerala, where the party is in power and will rule for three more years or he can go to neighbouring Bangladesh,” he told reporters.
Sarma had earlier said during an election rally that Sarkar will be sent to Bangladesh once the BJP came to power in the state.
Sarma, formerly a Congress party leader, has switched side to join the BJP just before the Assam assembly elections after being denied an audience with Rahul Gandhi. the then vice president of his old party.
Attacking his former leader, Sarma said that while ‘Amit Shah is a student of post graduate in politics, Rahul Gandhi is still in nursery class.’
The BJP had contested Tripura elections with its regional ally, Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura. Together, the saffron front-led alliance won 43 seats. The Congress and the Trinamool Congress failed to even open an account.
Sarkar has been the chief minister of Tripura since 1998. Known for his simple life, Sarkar was widely hailed as the people’s chief minister. However, the opposition parties criticised him for failing to improve the law and order in the state and doing very little on the development front.