GUWAHATI: Tripura Congress is trying to regain lost ground in the tribal belt as part of a broader strategy ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

“We are looking at regaining our lost tribal ground, both in the hills and plain areas. There are 20 tribal Assembly constituencies along with 15 seats where the indigenous communities will be a deciding factor,” Tripura Congress spokesperson, Tapas Dey told The Shillong Times on Wednesday.

Even as the ruling BJP is gearing up for contesting the two Lok Sabha constituencies, Tripura East (ST) and Tripura West (General), the Opposition Congress is looking at anti-incumbency and the CAB (Citizenship Amendment Bill) factors as an opportunity to garner public support.

“People in Tripura are tired of BJP’s misrule and last year the voters had dislodged CPM. The IPFT, which is an ally of the ruling party, has also succumbed to political pressure and had not taken a tough stand on either CAB or their ties with BJP,” Dey said.

As it is, the Opposition party has appealed to its former leaders who had earlier defected to other parties, to rejoin the Congress in a bid to regroup and strengthen its organisational base.

“We have given a clarion call to the veterans and other leaders who had left the party for reasons best known to them, to rejoin the party. Members from the grassroots have been invited to join Congress,” he said.

A good number of Congress leaders had defected to Trinamool Congress in 2016 and to BJP in 2017.

The party however is yet to announce its candidates for the parliamentary elections.

“The announcement of candidates will take some time. Cutrrently, discussions are being held under the leadership of the newly-appointed Tripura Congress president on our poll strategy. Booth committees are being constituted and we feel that we should be up there where the party was once,” he added.