Agartala, Mar 15 (PTI) The ruling BJP on Friday asserted that the opposition bloc INDIA will not be able to secure even one lakh votes in the two Lok Sabha seats in Tripura in the upcoming elections.

The northeastern state has two Lok Sabha constituencies with 28.56 lakh electors.

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"Given the prevailing situation in the state, the opposition (INDIA) bloc will not cross one lakh votes in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Interestingly, they (CPI(M) and Congress) have not yet announced whether they would contest the election together," BJP spokesperson Nadendhu Bhattacharjee said at a press conference.

While the Congress has fielded the party's state unit president Asish Kumar Saha in the West Tripura Lok Sabha constituency, the opposition bloc is yet to declare a nominee for the East Tripura Lok Sabha seat.

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Claiming that the BJP will win both seats with record margins, Bhattacharjee said the party leaders and workers have already begun campaigning in both plains and hill areas of the state.

On the nomination of Tipra Motha chief Pradyot Debbarma's elder sister Kriti Singh Debbarma as the NDA candidate for the East Tripura Lok Sabha seat, he said, "We will do whatever is required to ensure the victory of NDA candidates in both the Lok Sabha seats."

Asked if the Tipra Motha will meet the same fate as the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) after joining the coalition government as apprehended by senior Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman, Bhattacharjee said the BJP does not take the responsibility of keeping another political party float.

"However, it is the DNA of the Congress to engulf smaller parties as it did with Tripura Upajati Yuba Samity (TUJS) and Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT). For us, the country comes first," he said.

BJP ally IPFT's strength in the House came down to one in the 2023 assembly polls from eight in 2018.

Meanwhile, Tipra Motha chief Pradyot Debbarma, along with Kriti Singh Debbarma, held a closed-door meeting with BJP state president Rajib Bhattacharjee late on Thursday. However, both sides are silent on the outcome of the meeting.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)