Agartala, June 24: The BJP today announced that it would go it alone in the 2018 Tripura Assembly elections, squashing rumours about a possible understanding with the Trinamul Congress.

"We can have seat adjustments with regional forces like the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) and the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra (INPT). Primary talks on this have already been initiated. But we will not accept any fissiparous demands on their part like the creation of a separate state out of the ADC areas," said BJP state president Biplab Deb.

He also hinted that efforts were on to involve the regional forces of Tripura - IPFT and INPT - in the newly floated North Eastern Democratic Alliance (Neda) of the BJP.

The BJP president firmly and unequivocally ruled out any alliance with the Trinamul where six turncoat Congress MLAs have joined. Deb said there was no question of forging an alliance with the Trinamul in Tripura for the 2018 Assembly polls.

"It has already been made clear by our central leadership to me and other state leaders that there will be no alliance with the Trinamul. There is no ideological meeting point with that party. Ours is the fastest-growing party in Tripura and thousands of people, frustrated with CPM and other parties, have been joining our party. Where does the question of an alliance with Trinamul arise?" Deb asked.

He also described the six Congress MLAs who have joined the Trinamul as "opportunistic and self-seeking". "They have not changed sides in the interest of the people but in their self-interest. They have nothing new to offer to the people of the state."

He said his statements are based on what transpired in the recently held conclave of the BJP's national executive at Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. Deb strongly denounced the "politics of violence" indulged by the CPM in Tripura. "I was attacked at Dhwajanagar near Udaipur subdivision, our vice-president, Subal Bhowmik, was assaulted in Amzadnagar in Belonia subdivision and our West district president Manik Das in Fatikcherra area under Mohanpur subdivision. We have protested the attacks and informed our central leadership of what is happening in Tripura," said Deb.

He compared the situation in Tripura to what has been happening in the Kannur district of Kerala, where hundreds of BJP workers are killed by the CPM cadets.

He said over the past 23 years, the CPM in Tripura has not faced any challenge because the Congress, its rag-tag breakaway group like the Trinamul and the regional forces have failed to mobilise people against the "politics of murder and mayhem".

"The CPM here now faces a major political challenge from the ever-expanding BJP, so it is desperate. We will not sit idle. If they attack us here, they will be paid back in the same coin in the rest of the country," said Deb.