While political arena in Tripura is abuzz with understanding between CPM and Congress, leader of the Opposition and CPM Politburo member Manik Sarkar, in the run up to the crucial 2023 general assembly elections, on Thursday said, he has ‘no objection’ to a united opposition front against BJP.
Sarkar was replying to a query on newly elected Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman’s call for a united opposition front against the BJP party.
“If he wants to take the initiative and accomplish his call, then we have no objection with it,” Sarkar told reporters.
He said, “We already called to strengthen the united movement against the BJP . We need to keep putting pressure on the government.”
In fact, since the time of the by-polls to four Assembly constituencies which were held on June 23 last, there was a serious speculation that the votes of the leftists would go to the Congress – especially in two Assembly seats, 6-Agartala and 8-Town Bordowali (from this seat, incumbent Chief Minister Dr Saha contested).
As the results show, the speculations were not as wild as assumed – at least, in case of 6-Agartala seat where BJP candidate was defeated and CPM candidate’s votes halved significantly. So where did the Leftists’ votes go? Political analysts claimed that Congress candidate who pooled over 17,000 votes got CPM votes and walked away with the winning certificate.
Meantime, Sudip Roy Barman’s call followed by a positive response from the CPM makes it clear that the Bengal model, at least, unofficially will be followed in Tripura ‘to create pressure on BJP. Now, it will be interesting to know who will be the ‘Furifuri Fakir’ in Tripura in this united opposition front.
Apart from the united opposition front, Manik Sarkar also told the media that a five-member delegation of the CPI-M MLAs on Thursday met Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya and Director General of Police (DGP), VS Yadav over poll violence in Tripura.
The delegates apprised the Governor and the DGP of the situation prevailing in Tripura and highlighted the pre and post-poll violence which took place across the state since announcement of the by-poll date,” Sarkar said.
The five-member delegation comprised of Manik Sarkar, former minister and MLA Bhanulal Saha, MLA Ratan Bhowmik, MLA Shahid Chowdhury, and Prabhat Chowdhury.
Manik Sarkar appealed to the people to come out on the streets. “Put pressure on the government collectively to restore democracy, save the Constitution and rule of law along with fighting for work and food,” he said.
