'Tripura Congress is Controlled by BJP MLAs': 'Maharaja' Pradyot Manikya Debbarma Resigns from Party

Kolkata: The sole heir of the 800-year-old Manikya dynasty, Pradyot Manikya Debbarma, the “maharaja” of Tripura resigned from all party posts and the primary membership of the Congress party on Tuesday. Debbarma was the working president of the state’s Congress unit.

Speaking to News18 over phone, Debbarma said, “I felt that the Congress party is not serious in handling young leadership. Presently, Tripura Congress is controlled by the BJP MLAs. I raised this issue before the senior leaders in Delhi including Sonia Gandhi, but nothing has happened,” he said, adding that his problems with the party had been going on for one-and-a-half years.

Debbarma is the only son of Kirit Bikram Debbarma, the Manikya dynasty’s last ‘king’ and current head of the erstwhile royal family of Tripura.

“A section of senior Congress leaders are against me because I opposed the move where BJP leaders in Tripura were deciding what Congress should do. I was humiliated on several occasions,” he said.

During the interview, Debbarma also revealed that he has been at loggerheads with the Congress over the National Register of Citizens (NRC). “I am in favour of NRC and I filed a case at Supreme Court. Our party General Secretary Luizinho Faleiro asked me to withdraw the case couple of weeks ago. I told him that I cannot go against the sentiments of my people in Tripura,” he said.

According to him, his stand on the issue further complicated his position in the party.“See, no one leaves Congress party for money. I resigned because I was abandoned.”

News18 has learnt that Debbarma met Sonia Gandhi recently and expressed his desire to resign. When asked to whom had he sent the resignation letter, he said, “I mailed it to Luizinho Faleiro while keeping Priyanka Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in the loop.” Debbbarma, however, ruled out the possibility of him joining the BJP. “I am not joining any party as of now," he said.