PM Modi gave identity to the northeast: Pratima Bhoumik

Agartala (Tripura) [India], March 4 (ANI): The newly elected BJP MLA from Dhanpur, and the Union Minister of State (MoS) Pratima Bhoumik on Saturday, said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave identity to the northeast which was suffering from an ‘identity crisis’.

It is pertinent to note that Pratima Bhoumik won from the seat of Dhanpur which was considered a Communist Party of India (Marxist) bastion in the recently held Tripura Assembly polls. After this, her name is being speculated as the next Tripura Chief Minister and the first woman CM of the state.

Talking to ANI, she said, “The Dhanpur seat has been a CPI (M) bastion for 50 years. Although, the people trusted the party CPI(M) didn’t deliver as per the people’s expectations. But under PM Modi’s Double Engine government, we have taken the benefits to the people.”

“We have delivered on every front whether it is electricity, water, roads, colleges or sustainable lives for women. PM Modi had promised that we will do even more development than what we did in the first five years, and people believed him,” Bhoumik added.

On being asked about the speculations of being the next Tripura CM, the Union MoS said, “I am a dedicated party worker, and it is only because of the party that I am sitting in front of you. I contested the elections under the party’s instructions, and the party is my mother. So, one shouldn’t be speculating anything. I will do whatever the party will say.”

She said that PM Modi has been spreading the message of woman empowerment after which women also voted for BJP in large numbers.

“There was not even a woman MLA from Nagaland, but PM Modi sent one of our sisters to Rajya Sabha. This time, the first woman MLA has also been elected from Nagaland, and 12 MLAs from Tripura. All this is under our Prime Minister’s message of woman empowerment. There are 11 women in PM Modi’s cabinet, and this time, women have also voted for BJP in large numbers,” she said.

Pratima Bhoumik also remarked that PM Modi gave identity to the North-East, which was otherwise undergoing an ‘identity crisis’.

“Except Assam, the whole Northeast was under an identity crisis. PM Modi has given us identity. The whole world knows where is Tripura, Arunachal, Nagaland or Manipur. Under PM Modi, 360-degree development has been carried out under the HIRA+ model in Tripura. We all aim to work for the people under the ‘Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas’,” she further said.

Tripura BJP chief Rajib Bhattacharjee, while talking about the speculations of Pratima Bhoumik becoming the next Tripura CM, said, “The decision will be taken in the legislative party meet. Wait for 1-2 days during which we will make a decision. There is no dearth of leaders in BJP and we have worked as a team in this poll.”

Notably, in the recently held Tripura Assembly elections, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to power by winning an absolute majority.

According to the Election Commission of India, BJP won 32 seats with a vote share of around 39 per cent.

Tipra Motha Party came second by winning 13 seats. Communist Party of India (Marxist) got 11 seats while Congress bagged three seats. The Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) managed to open its account by winning one seat.

The CPI(M) and the Congress, arch rivals in Kerala, came together in the Northeast this time in a bid to oust the BJP from power. The combined vote share of CPI(M) and Congress remained around 33 per cent.

The BJP, which had never won a single seat in Tripura before 2018, stormed to power in the last election in alliance with IPFT and ousted the Left Front which had been in power in the border state for 35 years since 1978.

The BJP contested 55 seats and its ally, IPFT, on six seats. But both allies had fielded candidates in the Ampinagar constituency in the Gomati district.

The Left contested 47 and Congress on 13 seats, respectively. Of the total 47 seats, the CPM contested 43 seats while the Forward Bloc, Communist Party of India (CPI) and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) contested one seat each.

The CPI(M)-led Left Front ruled the state for nearly four decades, with a gap between 1988 and 1993, when the Congress was in power but this time both parties joined hands with the intention to oust BJP from power. (ANI)