During the election rally in Agartala, state BJP leaders brought many vegetables and gifted to BJP President J P Nadda, in order to show agricultural growth of the state under the five year rule of BJP. However, pineapple which is Tripura’s main fruit and the state is identified with this fruit, was not present in the basket. The main reason was that pineapple is the election symbol of Tripura’s tribal party Tipra Motha which is contesting against BJP in twenty tribal area constituencies. State BJP leaders decided not to show pineapple on public platform which might project a different message to the local people. Otherwise pineapple plays a vital role in all the ceremonies in the state. When Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presented mangoes to Tripura Chief Minister Manick Saha , as return gift Chief Minister presented pineapple to Bangladesh PM. Even Tripura Government gave a proposal to export food products made of pineapple to Dhaka. But during the election time, BJP is avoiding using pineapple for ceremonial occasion.
