Dr Saha goes to meet ‘ill’ Pradyot Kishore, triggers speculations

Agartala, May 26, 2023, By Our Correspondent

Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha on Thursday night went to meet TIPRA Motha chairman Pradyot Kishore Debbarman.

The Chief Minister in his Facebook post said that he met Pradyot Kishore as the latter was ill. It was courtesy call, the Chief Minister sought to indicate.

But the visit quite expectedly sparked off wide speculation as to whether the Chief Minister was instructed by the higher ups to meet him since Pradyot Kishore was not reported to be so ill that would prompt the Chief Minister to visit him at his palace.  Pradyot Kishore only some hours ago arrived at Agartala and spoke to the media at the airport.

The Chief Minister’s visit also became surprising as only recently he was reported to have expressed his reservation in calling Pradyot Kishore as Maharaja. The reported statement, given in the BJP Karjyakarini Baithak triggered huge sensation and many an indigenous body took strong exception to it and demanded Chief Minister’s apology. TIPRA Motha activists also burnt his effigy at Ampi.

Apart from that Chief Minister’s reservation to the title Maharaja ( in a democracy) also did not go down well with the RSS which time again sought to attach importance to the past institution of Royalty as a part of Indian legacy and tradition.

As it happened only some months ago RSS chief Dr Mohan Bhagwat himself visited the Palace to see the Crown of the Manikya dynasty.

Besides, many in the political circle -also in the BJP- felt that Chief Minister’s statement might backfire in the party politics during Lok Sabha elections as it hurt the sentiment of the indigenous people to a great extent.

It is not yet, however, known what transpired between Dr Saha and Pradyot Kishore but there were feelings that they also discussed about the issues relating to ‘interlocutor’ and other related matters