Former Tripura Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Deb Varma, who lost in the Assembly election held on February 16, is expected to be the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate in the by-election to Dhanpur constituency in Sepahijala district. Though the schedule for the election has not been declared, the BJP has started preparations at all levels.
Dhanpur became vacant after Union Minister of State Pratima Bhoumik resigned even after winning the seat by a margin of 3,500 votes against her CPI(M) rival. She opted to continue in her ministerial berth in the Union Cabinet after the BJP high command retained Dr. Manik Saha as Chief Minister.
Ms. Bhoumik had unsuccessfully contested in the 2018 Assembly election from Dhanpur against former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar. Mr. Sarkar continuously won the segment since 1998, and was not a candidate in the Assembly poll held this year.
Besides Jishnu Deb Varma, two other names — BJP State president Rajib Bhattacharjee and former MLA Subal Bhowmik, who frequently turns coat — are doing rounds for Dhanpur. Sources said there was every chance of Jishnu Deb Varma getting a party ticket.
Didn’t spare uncle
A member of the State’s royal family, Jishnu Deb Varma, who was the Minister for Finance and Power for five years, lost in his home turf Charilam (ST-reserved) by a small margin of 858 votes. The seat was won by a candidate of the TIPRA, the regional party floated by the State’s royal scion Pradyot Kishore Debbarman.
Interestingly, Mr. Pradyot did not put up a fight against CPI(M) State Secretary Jitendra Chowdhury and Congress strongman Sudip Roy Barman in their respective seats, but he did not spare his ‘uncle’ Jishnu Deb Varma.
Dhanpur is a general constituency but has a sizable tribal population and Muslim voters are a decisive factor. Both communities traditionally were support segments for the CPI(M) until the TIPRA (Tipraha Indigenous People’s Regional Alliance) made its entry in the State’s political scenario two years ago.
Sources in TIPRA on April 19 said the party might not contest in the by-election at Dhanpur as the party was now investing its energy for the polls in 587 Village Committees (similar to Panchayat) under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council. The party already moved the High Court to seek direction to the State Election Commission to hold the poll at the earliest.
