Negating the possibility of a poll alliance between Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Left parties, former Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on Wednesday lashed out at the Mamata Banerjee-led party for its double-standard politics.
Speaking to ANI, Sarkar said, “Trinamool has entered Tripura’s electoral politics from the time of their inception. There is nothing new in Tripura. When we were in power they came, participated in political campaigns and marked their presence. In a democracy, all political parties are welcome to participate in the election battle”.
Sarkar, a four-time chief minister and a senior leader of the CPIM also said that his party was never in favour of a pre-poll alliance with the TMC. Asked about the possibility of forming a pre-poll alliance with TMC, the CPIM veteran said, “This question does not arise. We are thinking of organising people against the fascist attacks of the ruling party otherwise there is no other agenda before us.”
Sarkar said that TMC’s face in West Bengal and Tripura is in stark contradiction to each other. Slamming the TMC, he said, “The BJP thinks whatever the TMC is doing in Bengal should be paid back to them in the same coin here in Tripura. It is a fact that the Trinamool is suppressing the democratic rights of people in Bengal and in Tripura they are trying to acquire public sympathy by crying foul against the BJP”.
Sarkar said the entire vote share of TMC swung into BJP. Even Congress has failed to retain its vote share before the 2018 assembly elections. “The whole anti-Left vote went to the BJP and it came to power. Now, TMC once again trying to make inroads in Tripura. Well, we do not have any objection to that as the multi-party system is a part and parcel of our democratic set-up,” he stated.
On the recent poll debacle, the former chief minister said that the civic and urban body elections that had taken place a few days back were a farcical exercise at the behest of the ruling BJP. He alleged that the ruling BJP prevented the general voters from taking part in the election process.
“People have been intimidated and sometimes physically assaulted for resisting the fascist tactics of the BJP. When the Left was in power, people used to exercise their franchise fearlessly and the ruling party never interrupted people from casting their votes,” he said. Sarkar also claimed that it was BJP’s failure in delivering what they promised what was prompting the ruling party to resort to such violent tactics.
