Agartala, Feb 17 (PTI) Training his guns at ally Tipra Motha, Chief Minister Manik Saha on Tuesday alleged that the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), where the Pradyot Deb Barma-led party is in power, has turned into a “centre of loot”.
Addressing a BJP programme at Demdum in Unakoti district, Saha claimed that although the state government had sanctioned Rs 30 crore to the tribal council for setting up a hospital, no utilisation certificate has been submitted so far.
“Members of the tribal council frequently visit foreign countries. When asked how these trips were funded, they claim they bear the expenses themselves. Loot is everywhere. A peculiar situation has been created in the tribal council,” he alleged.
The CM further accused the council of creating 123 new Village Committees (VCs) without following due legal procedures, resulting in delays in grassroots-level elections.
Saha said the party was misleading the indigenous people with the demand for ‘Greater Tipraland’.
“They proposed that Greater Tipraland’s territory would extend up to Bangladesh, Pakistan, Assam and Mizoram. They are misleading innocent tribal people,” he said.
The Tipra Motha had contested the 2023 assembly elections alone on the plank of a ‘Greater Tipraland’, to be carved out of Tripura. It won 13 seats in the 60-member assembly.
Saha also criticised another BJP ally, the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), for asking him to refrain from commenting on the choice of script for the Kokborok language.
“A CM is above caste, creed and religion. He represents every citizen, tribal and non-tribal alike. Tripura once had a tribal CM, Dasarath Deb, but the script issue for Kokborok could not be finalised then. If you cannot finalise it, pass the responsibility to us. We will form an expert committee and make a decision,” he said.
On Monday, IPFT general secretary Swapan Debbarma had said the CM should avoid making unnecessary statements on the script issue, adding that the decision should be taken by those who use the language in their daily lives.
Expressing confidence ahead of the TTAADC polls, Saha said the BJP would win all 28 seats.
“If voted to power in the TTAADC, the people of the tribal areas will witness an unprecedented scale of development,” he asserted. PTI PS SOM
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