Agartala, Jan. 14: Winds of change are blowing across the militant camps of Tripura. On the macro level, rival rebels are cementing an alliance with an eye to the Autonomous District Council elections and on the micro level, fresh clashes and deaths have been reported from the Joshua Debbarma faction of the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT).

Official sources said Nayanbasi Jamatya, leader of an NLFT faction which had initiated peace parleys and then left it midway, has joined hands with the Biswamohan Debbarma faction of the NLFT and the Ranjit Debbarma-led All Tripura Tiger Force to float a new front, the Royal Supreme Council.

They aim to flush out ?the infiltrator non-tribal population? from the state. The sources said the front is likely to launch Operation Roukhala (deportation drive) soon. The leaders of the militant outfits had met near Satcherri under Habiganj district of Bangladesh in the last week of December to float the front, the sources said.

?It is quite clear that the front will try to disrupt the ADC polls in order to ensure a victory for their favoured party,? a source said.

The formation of the front was confirmed by Jamatya in a fax message. While announcing its objectives, he blamed chief minister Manik Sarkar for the failure of the peace talks with the Centre and the state government. ?We are giving Manik Sarkar and his refugee government a period of one year till December 31 to leave Tripura,? Jamatya said.

Claiming 75 per cent of the credit for partial restoration of peace in the state in the past year, he charged the state government with bribing his four close lieutenants, whom he termed as ?betrayers?. He also alleged that the government had bribed director-general of police G.M. Srivastava, deputy inspector-general M. Madan Mohan and tribal welfare commissioner G.S.G. Ayengar for derailing the peace talks.

Official sources here dismissed Jamatya?s ?rhetoric? as ?outpourings of a frustrated and sick mind?, but added that the security forces would do everything possible to foil the designs of the militants.

In another development, official agencies have received reports of the death of two militants in an infighting in the Joshua Debbarma camp.

The clash took place at Jamburacherra under Chunarughat police station in Habiganj district of Bangladesh on January 7. Militants Bimal Debbarma and Kamal Debbarma died on the spot and two other militants were injured.

Sources said bickering in the Joshua Debbarma faction has been continuing over embezzlement of funds and frustration over hard jungle life.

Nayanbasi and Joshua had broken away from the parent NLFT group in January 2001, but fell out early last year after Nayanbasi initiated efforts to sign a peace agreement and Joshua emerged as the leader of the dissident group of NLFT (Nayanbasi).