The  BJP’s central leadership has intensified efforts to forge an electoral understanding with Tipra Motha ahead of the upcoming Village Committee elections, with party national general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santosh arriving in Tripura on Tuesday for a two-day visit.

Santosh was accompanied by BJP’s Northeast coordinator Sambit Patra and senior party leaders Ravindra Raju and Rajdeep Roy. Chief Minister Prof. Dr. Manik Saha welcomed the central leaders at the State Guest House near Khajurbagan in Agartala.

The visit comes amid ongoing negotiations between the BJP and Tipra Motha over a possible alliance for the Village Committee polls. Although several rounds of discussions have already taken place in New Delhi, the two sides are yet to arrive at a final agreement.

Chief Minister Manik Saha had on Monday said that talks with Tipra Motha were continuing and expressed confidence that the BJP would contest the elections with its alliance partners. He, however, indicated that the final contours of any alliance would be known once the election process is formally settled.

Tipra Motha founder and former supremo Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma, meanwhile, has maintained that the party’s position on any alliance would depend largely on progress towards implementing the constitutional rights and safeguards promised to the indigenous population under the Tiprasa Accord.

Speaking during a Facebook Live session on Monday, Debbarma said Tipra Motha would not enter into an electoral arrangement with any political party unless the commitments made under the accord were addressed.

A tripartite agreement was signed in 2022 between the Centre, the Tripura government and Tipra Motha with the stated objective of promoting the overall development of the indigenous population. Constitutional safeguards and rights for the Tiprasa community have remained a key demand of Tipra Motha.

With the alliance talks still unresolved, the BJP central leadership’s visit is being viewed as an important development that could help push the negotiations towards a possible understanding ahead of the Village Committee elections.