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Updated: Aug 22, 2019 13:25 IST

After contesting the last Lok Sabha polls and the three-tier panchayat polls alone, the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura ( IPFT), alliance partner of the ruling BJP in the state, has said that it will contest next year’s election of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council ( TTAADC) on its own.

But the BJP’s ally has kept doors open for discussion on a poll alliance with different political parties, even the opposition CPM, if there’s agreement on a common minimum programme that includes separate statehood for the indigenous communities and more power to the autonomous district council (ADC).

“The BJP overlooked us for talks on a potential alliance during the Lok Sabha and panchayat polls. Moreover, they are not serious about the promises made to us . We are ready to contest the ADC polls alone. But if any political party including CPM, agrees to our minimum common programmes and wishes to discuss on poll alliance, our doors are open,” IPFT assistant general secretary told the media at Agartala Press Club on Wednesday evening.

At present, all the 28 seats of the TTAADC are held by CPM representatives.

The BJP said they are yet to start discussions about the ADC polls as it is scheduled next year.

“ The IPFT can decide what they want to do as it’s their internal affair. But if they go for an alliance with CPM, our relation is likely to deteriorate,” said BJP spokesperson Nabendu Bhattacharjee.

Veteran CPM leader Pabitra Kar said, “We don’t support IPFT’s separate statehood demand. If they want to talk about an alliance, they need to drop their statehood demand.”

Despite being partners in the coalition government in the state, the BJP and IPFT contested the Lok Sabha polls independently. The BJP won both the seats from the state comfortably, while the IPFT candidates secured fourth positions in both seats.

IPFT claims there was a split in their vote share due to Congress’s poll promise of scrapping the Citizenship Amendment Bill.

The IPFT has been in alliance with the BJP, which formed the government in the state in March last year by uprooting the two decade old Marxist regime. But within two months of coming to power, differences cropped up between them over nomination of chairmen of block advisory committees (BAC).