Agartala, 22 Jan: Hitting out at the CPI(M)-Congress alliance in Tripura, senior BJP leader Biplab Kumar Deb on Sunday said the two parties, “having fooled people for decades with fake promises, should now be ready to get a befitting reply” from them in the next month’s elections.
He claimed that the CPI(M), which ruled the state for 25 years, has no chance of returning to power.
“Communists have become non-existent worldwide. There is no chance of the CPI(M) returning to power in the state, given that it oppressed people here for several years,” Deb said during a rally in Sonamura area of Sepahijala district.
The former CM asserted that people will “drive out” the candidates of the two parties.
“The CPI(M) has lost its strength to contest the BJP alone, and that’s why Manik Sarkar (opposition leader) is taking help of the B team (Congress),” he stated.
He alleged that the CPI(M) was responsible for the termination of over 10,323 teachers from service.
“The mega star, who was standing behind the former chief minister (Manik Sarkar), during a CPI(M)-Congress rally in Agartala was responsible for their ill-fate,” he said an indirect attack on Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman.
The BJP leader, however, did not elaborate further on Roy Barman’s alleged role in the termination process.
The high court of Tripura had in 2014 terminated the appointment of 10,323 government school teachers, ruling that the recruitment was unconstitutional. The verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2017.
Deb also shot back at the opposition, who had “mocked on his initiatives to start Indo-Bangla water transit services — from Udaipur in Gomati district to Daudkandi in the neighbouring country” and said that Union Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has informed him that the matter is being pursued by the Indian High Commission in Bangladesh.
Maintaining that the BJP government in Tripura has delivered more than it had promised in its vision document in 2018, he added that the saffron party will “win the election with a massive mandate”.
Election to the 60-member Assembly in Tripura will be held on February 16. (PTI)