Manik Saha, Sudip Barman, Pradyot Manikya, Manik Sarkar & More: Meet Top 9 Faces of Tripura Tug-of-War

The high-decibel campaign for the Tripura assembly elections, marked by bitter political attacks and promises of development, ended on Tuesday. The north-eastern state is all set for a triangular fight this time, with the BJP-IPFT coalition seeking to retain supremacy, the Left-Congress combine looking to wrest power, and regional outfit Tipra Motha making its debut at the hustings after its stunning performance in the autonomous council polls.

Polling to the 60-member assembly will be held on February 16, while votes will be counted on March 2. Polling will take place in 3,328 polling booths, of which 1,100 are sensitive and 28 critical.

With the state all set, News18 takes a look at nine key faces and their chances:

Dr Manik Saha: The Tripura chief minister is contesting from Town Bordowali. A Congressman, Saha joined BJP in 2016 and was made the party’s state president in 2021. Saha, who became a Rajya Sabha MP last year, replaced Biplab Deb who was asked to resign from the chief minister’s post last year. Saha contested the by-election of Town Bordowali and became an MLA, winning almost 51 per cent votes. A prominent dental surgeon, Saha is known to be polite and diplomatic but political experts say he is forced to carry Deb’s baggage of faults.

Rajib Bhattacharya: The BJP state president will make his electoral debut from the Banamalipur seat. Bhattacharya, who was vice-president of the Tripura Pradesh BJP under Deb, was appointed the BJP chief last year when Saha became the chief minister. Earlier, he was general secretary of the BJP. An old warhorse of the BJP, he has an RSS background.

Pratima Bhowmick: BJP’s Union minister from Dhanpur constituency, Bhowmick contested in 2018 and was defeated by former chief minister Manik Sarkar. She has been propped up by her party again from Dhanpur and the buzz in political circles is that she may get a bigger role if the party comes to power.

Jishnu Dev Burman: Tripura’s deputy chief minister represents the Charilam constituency. Burman, who hails from the royal family, won Charilam by more than 25,000 votes in 2018.

Jitendra Choudhury: A strong tribal leader, CPIM state secretary Choudhury is contesting from Sabrum constituency. He has been unofficially projected as the chief ministerial candidate if the Left comes to power in the February 16 elections. Choudhury was incorporated in the Central Committee in 2018. He is the president of GMP, the indigenous Tripuri wing of the party, and National Convener of Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch.

Sudip Roy Barman: Six-time MLA from Agartala, Barman joined the BJP in 2018 but returned to the Congress soon after. Till now, he has never been defeated.

Birajit Sinha: State Congress president Sinha is contesting from Kailasahar and has been winning from the seat for a long time. However, last time he was defeated by CPIM’s Mafashar Ali.

Pradyot Manikya: The royal descendant of Tripura, Manikya was with the Congress for several years till he cut ties and formed the Tipra Motha. Though he is not in the fray, all eyes are on how the kingmaker’s party performs in the elections. Manikya often speaks about indigenous people’s rights and has sought the creation of Tipraland. He won 18 of 28 seats in the Tripura Tribal Autonomous Election, which has made him a force to reckon with. All parties have tried to ally with him but his demand is clear — he will tip up with a party that promises, in writing, the creation of Greater Tipraland.

Manik Sarkar: The former chief minister of Tripura served the state for over 20 years. This is the first time he will not be in the electoral fray but has been canvassing across the state to win support for his colleagues.

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