In Tripura, a rift in the INDIA bloc came to the fore today when the Congress legislators did not turn up to cast their vote for the Rajya Sabha election underway in the legislative assembly.

BJP has fielded its state unit chief Rajib Bhattacharjee, while Sudhan Das is a CPI (M) nominee.

Talking to reporters, the Leader of Opposition in the legislative assembly and senior CPI (M) leader Jitendra Chowdhury, criticized Congress for abstaining from the vote.

He said, across the country, Congress claims that they are against the BJP but in Tripura, they did not ask their legislators to exercise their right to franchise for election to Rajya Sabha seat. 

Meanwhile,  Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha and other ministers and legislators cast their votes. Dr. Saha mentioned that Rajib Bhattacharjee’s victory is assured, as he is expected to receive all 47 votes from BJP, Tipra Motha, and IPFT members.

In the 60-seat legislative assembly, BJP has 33 MLAs, alliance partners Tipra Motha has 13, whereas, IPFT has one MLA. Opposition, CPI (M) has 10 MLAs and Congress has three legislators.