The Union Government has remained noncommittal about the statehood demand of the Indigenous People''s Front of Tripura (IPFT), a junior ally of the ruling BJP, officials and party sources said on Wednesday.
Senior officials of Tripura''s Home Department and leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) separately said that Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other central ministers have remained ambiguous about the statehood demand of the IPFT.
A delegation of the IPFT led by party President and Revenue Minister Narendra Chandra Debbarma and party General Secretary and Tribal Welfare Minister Mevar Kumar Jamatia met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, DoNER (Development of North Eastern Region) and PMO (Prime Minister''s Office) Minister Jitendra Singh and Forest and Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar in New Delhi on Monday and Tuesday and discussed about their various demands including statehood.
The IPFT, a tribal-based local party, has been agitating since 2009 for a separate state to be carved out by upgrading the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), which has jurisdiction over two-thirds of Tripura''s 10,491 sq-km area, home to over 12,16,000 people.
"BJP never supported the statehood issue of the IPFT. Central leaders of the party are also against the demand. IPFT is a separate party, they can agitate on the issue," Tripura BJP spokesman Nabendu Bhattacharjee told .