Tripura polls: Key Congress leader says BJP's presence in North East overrated, but expects two-way race with Left

Imphal: The Congress leader entrusted with overseeing the party’s election preparations in the North East believes the BJP’s presence in the region is overrated. With Tripura scheduled to go to polls in less than three weeks – followed by Meghalaya and Nagaland just nine days later – Congress president Rahul Gandhi has asked the party’s Manipur-based leader, Rajkumar Imo, to assist the Tripura Congress Committee in awarding tickets to the worthy and improve the party’s prospects in the state. Imo is a third generation Congressman. His late father, RK Jaichandra Singh, was Manipur’s seventh chief minister while his father-in-law, Nongthombam Biren, migrated from the Congress to the BJP in 2016 to become the party’s first chief minister of the state. Imo spoke with Armstrong Chanambam for Firstpost about the prospects of a Congress resurgence in the hill states. Edited excerpts follow: [caption id=“attachment_4328933” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Congress leader Rajkumar Imo. Source: Twitter/@imosingh[/caption] What groundwork has your team done to revive the Congress in Tripura? This is not going to be an easy election for the Congress, which has been in the Opposition for 25 years. During my three trips to Tripura before 20 December, I travelled across 20 constituencies and local leaders everywhere told me that we must refrain from joining hands with regional parties. When I visited two constituencies on the Tripura-Bangladesh border, I was told that I was the first party representative to visit the area in the last 40 years. People were pleased and advised that I identify leaders in terms of priority while allocating tickets as this will enhance the performance of the party in the long run. We gathered insights from the local leaders, party workers and heard common people’s expectations to put together a ground report to help formulate our poll strategy. How important are young leaders for the Congress this election? We are looking to connect with more of young people who show promise and will remain an asset to the party in the long run. Our focus will be on candidates who have a high probability of winning, who will remain rooted in the party and aren’t likely to defect to another party. Is the Congress in talks with or willing to talk to other parties about any alliance to counter CPM? In the past Assembly elections, the Congress had always joined hands with other local parties, such as INPT and IPFT, for the tribal seats. But this time around, we have not decided if we will share the reserved seats with any local outfit; the Congress may go to the polls alone. We will go by the local representatives’ opinions as much as possible so that the party also creates workers and retains candidates at the grassroots level, which I approve off. BJP is on a winning spree across the country. How do you plan to check this in Tripura and the rest of North East? Our main opponent at the national level is the BJP, but in Tripura, our focus is on the Left-front government, which has ruled Tripura for 25 years. However, the BJP will employ all privileges at its disposal as it’s in power at the Centre. But we will take on these challenges and wrest a majority. I feel it will be the Congress that dethrones the Left-front government in Tripura. The RSS organised one of its biggest rallies in Guwahati recently to spread its wings in the North East. What do you make of it? The BJP has won only in Assam and hasn’t performed spectacularly in the North East. Of course, it is ruling in Manipur but it managed to win only 21 seats while the Congress bagged 28. Despite losing in Gujarat, the Congress managed to receive the maximum number of votes in last 20 years. Party workers feel rejuvenated after our recent performances.

With Rahul’s appointment as party president, an enthusiastic Congress is confidently entering the fray.

Initially, I was of the opinion that Tripura will prove to be a tough contest due to the Left-front government’s 25-year reign. However, after numerous visits to the state, Agartala seems to be way behind Imphal in terms of development. It would be prudent to change such a government and that is going to be our focus in Tripura. The Congress is in power in Meghalaya and we consider the Conrad Sangma-led NPP as the principal opposition party. The BJP doesn’t have a strong presence in Nagaland. Yes, they have performed well in one or two states, but I do not see the so-called BJP wave here. The only heir to Tripura’s royalty Pradyot Kishore Manikya is leading the election as the working president of Tripura Congress. What impact, if any, will this have on the tribal votes? Pradyot Kishore Manikya, the Maharajah of Tripura, is also the PCC working president, and he accompanied me during my recent trips to the state. He is a young leader who will have a definite impact on tribal voters if he enters grassroots politics. We all also wish that he enters the field and works with the party, as he is a potential Congress leader. Moreover, the common folks trust him a lot as he is a member of the Tripura royal family. His presence in the campaigning will earn the Congress a fair share of votes. The Congress’ performance in Manipur polls last year was worse than it was the previous elections. Will lessons from this setback help in Tripura this time around? Congress paid the price for being overconfident in Manipur. Most of us won or lost by small margins. We have learnt not to be overconfident in politics, we must stay close to the people and perform. In Tripura, the local Congress leaders should be confident that they can usher change by toppling the government. They must have this firm belief that they can do it. Across the North East, there has been a spike in instances of veteran Congress leaders deserting the party. Why so? What is the party doing in this regard? In 2013, the Congress had 10 MLAs in Tripura but eight of them deserted the party, causing a major setback. Some ultimately ended up with the BJP after defecting from the Trinamool Congress and a few sided with the Left-front government. While allocating tickets, we will focus on young leaders who will remain loyal to the Congress. Why should people vote for the Congress? I did not notice any significant development in Tripura during my recent trips. If such a situation had prevailed in Manipur, the incumbent government would have been voted out long ago. The Congress stands for peace, stability and development. We want to prevent the recurrence of violent agitations by the tribal people, the kind we witnessed recently. We want to bring stability in the region by addressing the issues indigenous people face. The author is an Imphal-based freelance writer and a member of  101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.