Agartala, Mar 23 (IANS): Opposition CPI-M and the Congress, which together fought the February 16 Tripura Assembly polls, on Thursday fielded a joint candidate against the ruling BJP for the Assembly Speakers election.

The first three-day session of the newly-constituted Tripura Assembly will begin on Friday with the election of a new Speaker.

The CPI-M, which has 11 members, and the Congress with three MLAs have fielded veteran Congress leader Gopal Roy against BJP's Biswa Bandhu Sen, who was the Deputy Speaker in the previous Assembly.

With 13 seats, the Tipra Motha Party (TMP) emerged as the second largest party in the Assembly polls after BJP, which secured 32 seats while its ally Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) got one seat.

TMP supremo Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman told IANS said that his party's stand would be finalised after his meeting with the party's 13 MLAs.

Tripura Congress President and MLA Birajit Sinha had earlier said that the TMP would support Gopal Roy in for the Speaker's post.

Roy and Sen filed their nomination papers on Thursday.