Agartala: Tripura BJP MLA Dibachandra Hrangkhawal resigned from the assembly on Wednesday, becoming the seventh legislator of the ruling coalition in the northeastern state to quit this year. Hrangkhawal, a tribal MLA of Karamcherra in Dhalai district, cited personal reasons for his resignation, ahead of the assembly elections due early next year.
"Today, I have submitted my resignation as an MLA to the secretary of the assembly as speaker Ratan Chakraborty was not present. I have resigned on personal grounds," he told reporters. Hrangkhawal, who was the president of the state Congress, switched over to the BJP just before the 2018 assembly elections.
"I have not decided yet on my next course of action but will obviously remain in politics since I am a political person," he said. Hrangkhawal was accompanied to the assembly by senior state Congress leader Asish Kumar Saha, who had resigned as a BJP MLA earlier this year. BJP spokesperson Subrata Chakraborty told PTI that Hrangkhawal was ailing for a long and was not able to perform his duties. "This will not impact the party's prospect in the ensuing assembly election," he claimed.
With this, the BJP lost four of its MLAs this year. Besides Saha, legislators Sudip Roy Barman and Burbo Mohan Tripura also resigned earlier this year. MLA Asish Das of the Surma constituency was disqualified for misconduct. Roy Barman and Saha resigned and joined the Congress in February. Roy Barman won in a by-election later but Saha lost to Chief Minister Manik Saha.
Das had joined the Trinamool Congress but left the Mamata Banerjee-led party too. He is out of active politics now. Burbo Mohan Tripura has joined the Tipra Motha, a regional party. The Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), a constituent of the BJP-led coalition, also lost three of its MLAs -- Dhananjoy Tripura, Brishaketu Debbarma and Mevar Kumar Jamatia. The resignations of Dhananjoy Tripura and Mevar Kumar Jamatia were accepted by the speaker but Brishaketu was disqualified on the account of "procedural fault". The three leaders have joined the Tipra Motha. The BJP has 34 MLAs in the 60-member assembly, while its ally IPFT has five. The opposition Congress has one MLA and CPI(M) has 15 legislators, while five seats are vacant. (PTI)
