The BJP on Monday made its maiden entry into the state assembly in Tripura – the oldest continuous Left bastion in the country, with six rebel Trinamool Congress legislators formally joining the saffron party in Agartala. The joining took place in the presence of senior BJP leader and Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and union minister of state for petroleum Dharmendra Pradhan.
The six Trinamool Congress legislators – Sudip Roy Barman, Asish Saha, Pranjit Singha Roy, Diba Chandra Hrankhawal, Dilip Sarkar and Biswa Bandhu Sen – also took along with them several thousand supporters when they marched from the Astabal Ground in Agartala to the Rabindra Shatabarshiki Bhavan to formally join the BJP.
The six legislators were originally elected to the Tripura state assembly in 2013 on Congress party tickets, but had switched over to the Trinamool Congress in June 2016 leaving behind three others in the Congress legislature party. Ratan Lal Nath, one of the three remaining Congress legislators too has informally joined the BJP after having voted for the NDA candidate along with the six TMC legislators during the recent Presidential election.
“I see a sea of humanity in Agartala as six Trinamool MLAs join the BJP,” senior Assam minister and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma said in tweet. Later, speaking at the function, Sarma said the people of Tripura were now ready to oust the Left Front government. Sarma also alleged that the law and order situation of Tripura was in very bad shape, with crimes against women becoming the worst in the country.
