Rivals 5 Years Ago, Congress And Left Campaign Together In Tripura Now

Sudip Roy Burman, 56, is a veteran politician in Tripura. He has never lost from the key Agartala constituency since 1998. He is also the only congress MLA among the three northeast states going to the polls this month.

In 2018, he switched over to the BJP and became a minister, until he fell out with former Chief Minister Biplab Deb.

Now, Mr Burman is back as a Congress candidate.

Election campaigns are nothing new for Mr Burman. But this time, as his road show moved, he is followed by supporters of the Left Front. Until this election, they have always campaigned against him.

On the ground, political workers and supporters who, five years ago, could not see eye to eye are now campaigning against a common rival - the BJP.

The rivals Left and the Congress have joined hands in Tripura this time. The Left will contest 47 seats and the Congress 13 of the total 60 seats. When the Left and the Congress fought in an alliance in West Bengal, the results were not good. But they did manage to make a stable alliance and fought the Bengal election together in 2021.

The Tripura situation is a bit different though. There is a history of political violence between the Left and the Congress in Tripura. And both are contesting in an alliance for the first time in this BJP-ruled states.

Even in Bengal, it wasn't that easy. There was no visible joint campaign on the ground.

"We have done this seat-sharing since people wanted it. We are not weak. We respond to people's wishes. Bengal was not a failure. We stopped the BJP," CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said.

The BJP hit back. "The CPI(M) Is so weak that it is taking the Congress's support. The Left can't fight all the seats and the Congress is contesting only 13," the former Chief Minister Biplab Deb said.