BJP's Biswabandhu elected Tripura speaker as Tipra Motha stages walkout

Amidst a walkout by the Tipra Motha, the second largest party in the Tripura assembly, the BJP's Biswabandhu Sen was elected the speaker of the state's legislature on Friday.

Tipra Motha supremo Pradyot Kishore Debbarma in a tweet earlier in the day revealed that after a telephonic conversation with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, he had held a meeting with Assam Chief Minister and the BJP's main pointsman in the northeast Himanta Sarma on the issue of appointment of an interlocutor to discuss the issues raised by the tribal party.

In the speaker election, Sen received 32 votes, while the opposition CPI(M)-Congress candidate Gopal Chandra Roy got 14 votes.

In the Tripura assembly, the BJP-IPFT alliance now has 32 MLAs at present as one legislator, Pratima Bhowmick, who is also a union minister, had resigned.

Sen, a four-time MLA from Dharmanagar in North Tripura district, was the deputy speaker in the previous assembly.

The Tipra Motha, which has 13 members in the assembly, staged a walkout before the speaker election to protest against "improper seat arrangements" and did not take part in the voting.

Immediately after the assembly session started, the leader of the party, Animesh Debbarma, raised objections to seat arrangements and staged a walkout.

Later, Debbarma told reporters that his party would play the role of a "constructive Opposition" in the assembly by raising questions in people's interest. After the Protem Speaker, Binoy Bhushan Das announced the name of Sen as the winning candidate, he thanked all members of the House.

''I would like to assure you that I will conduct the House impartially. I also seek cooperation from all members, irrespective of their party affiliation,'' he said. Chief Minister Manik Saha expressed hope that Sen would maintain the dignity of the post.

CPI(M) legislative party leader Jiten Chowdhury congratulated the new speaker, assuring him of all cooperation in running the House.

Gopal Chandra Roy, the Congress MLA who also contested the election for the post, also assured him of cooperation. The Tipra Motha supremo said earlier in the day that he met BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance chairman and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday, after talking to the Union home minister.

"In a follow up to yesterday's conversation with the home minister regarding the appointment of an interlocutor, I met Shri @himantabiswa last evening and he will be briefing the Home Minister regarding the urgency of this matter.

"We are interested in an honourable constitutional solution to the problem of our indigenous people of Tripura and hope that this process starts as promised within the next few days," Debbarma said in a Twitter post.

Debbarma, a scion of the former royal family of the state, on Thursday said Shah had called him up and assured him that an interlocutor will be appointed by March 27 to work out a 'constitutional solution' to the problems raised by the indigenous people of Tripura.

The Tipura Motha chief had a meeting with Shah, BJP president JP Nadda, Sarma and the Tripura chief minister shortly after the oath-taking ceremony of the government earlier this month.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)