Agartala: The ruling BJP in Tripura faced a fresh embarrassment after both the opposition CPI-M and Congress raised a serious allegation that a group of BJP leaders has been working hard to dethrone Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha, demonstrating an orchestrated crisis over the past few weeks.
Leader of the opposition and CPI-M state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury observed a group of BJP leaders openly challenging the good governance initiative of the Chief Minister and creating an unruly situation across the state, while veteran Congress leader and MLA Birjit Sinha alleged the group hatched a conspiracy to occupy the CM’s chair.
Tripura has witnessed a number of ethnic and communal violence in three months, and law and order began deteriorating as soon as Dr. Saha warned in public that “no criminal will be spared without considering any political color.” The BJP workers are found to be involved in every incident, including spreading communal and ethnic hatred, attacking innocent people, and creating a public nuisance, Chaudhury said.
Rapes, murders, attacks, and inaction of police even after lodging specific cases have become routine in Tripura, and in every incident, there is an involvement of saffron cadres. Not only the BJP leaders but a section of bureaucrats and police officers are believed to be involved in the conspiracy to unseat Dr. Saha, he underlined.
“We didn’t raise any demand seeking Dr. Saha’s resignation; rather, we always want him to complete his full tenure. But a group of his party leaders, including a few MLAs and ministers, are desperately trying to defame the Chief Minister and pull him down,” Chaudhury stated, adding that CM should make a firm stand against the criminals and corrupts.
Meanwhile, Congress MLA Birjit Sinha, in a separate statement, said, “There is a deep conspiracy against CM Dr. Manik Saha by his party leaders to occupy his chair. They are indulging in communal and ethnic riots. In every incident, BJP workers were involved, but surprisingly, despite the CM’s directive, police didn’t take action in most cases.”
“Their only agenda is to loot the state, but CM doesn’t allow them. Even then, in the last two years during Dr. Saha’s regime, there was multicore corruption, several instances of nepotism, illegal contracts and deals, misuse of public offices, a crisis in health and education,” Sinha added.
However, BJP president and Rajya Sabha MP Rajib Bhattacharjee ruled out such apprehension and denied the allegations, saying Congress and CPI-M joined hands to confuse the people through a designed propaganda when they had lost their base.
“The party has been monitoring every activity of the opposition parties and their role and involvement in the recent spate of violence and tension. I reiterate once again that criminals will be dealt with an iron hand, and nobody, including the officers, will be spared if found doing wrong—the message is loud and clear from the Prime Minister,” Bhattacharjee pointed out.
