oppn parties Tripura BJP: Split Wide Open

News Snippets

  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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Tripura BJP: Split Wide Open

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2020-10-13 15:56:03

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

All is not well with the BJP in Tripura. A large section of the MLAs (reported to be nearly 50 percent of the party’s strength in the house), led by Sudip Roy Barman, have asked for the removal of chief minister Biplab Deb. Alternatively, they have petitioned the high command to give them a larger sy in governance.

It needs to be remembered that Sudip Roy Burman (son of ex-CM Sudhir Roy Barman and ex-Congressman who joined the BJP later) was a frontrunner for the chief minister's post after the BJP won in 2018. But the party had then gone with Deb who was a dyed-in-the-wool BJP man. Roy Barman has carried a grudge for that and has now thought it fit to raise the banner of rebellion. He had also been removed from the health minister's post after the general elections in 2019.

Sudip has been camping in Delhi for the last few days along with 8 MLAs owing allegiance to him. He sees an opportunity to press his demands as Ram Madhav, who minded the north-east for the party and was seen to support Deb has recently been removed from the party post.

But the party high command has to decide on the matter in a very judicious way as the state BJP unit seems to be equally divided between the two adversaries. A delicate balance exists and tinkering with it might disturb the entire party set up. Since Roy Barman has the backing of many MLAs he and his supporters cannot be kept out of the cabinet for long.

The party has to impress upon Biplab Deb to accommodate them suitably as it cannot afford to let them sabotage the setup. Although the BJP won handsomely in the last elections, Deb has not run the state well and is facing anti-incumbency. The performance of the government is not up to the mark and several sectors have suffered. Experienced hands need to head many departments and the party can effectively use Roy Burman's services if it can convince Biplab Deb to be more accommodative.