Kolkata: Urging the CPI(M) to abstain from making way for the saffron party in Tripura, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Bratya Basu asked the communist leaders to allow their supporters to join TMC if they can't come out in the streets and protest against BJP.
Basu, on Saturday, said that state-sponsored terror tactics and political atrocity by the BJP have mingled in the northeastern state, where there is no distinction between the administration and the ruling political party.
He appealed to Left workers to join TMC if their leaders aren't standing by them in time of crisis.
Basu's statement assumes significance as the Left too have been at the receiving end of alleged violence unleashed by the BJP in Tripura. Left party workers came under attack following a rally at Khowai district two days back with a number of party offices ransacked.
In the recent past after Mamata Banerjee's landslide victory in Bengal elections several Congress leaders including former minister Prakash Das, former MLA Subal Bhowmik, Youth Congress working president Santanu Saha, former municipal councillor Panna Deb and many others have joined the TMC.
On Saturday late afternoon Congress leaders Hiran Mia, Shamik Deb, Raju Saha, Bhubaneshwar Debnath and Iman Hossain joined TMC. Some five-odd intellectuals also joined Trinamool.
"People are looking for shelter against BJP-backed and state-sponsored terror tactics. There is no distinction between the administration and the ruling BJP party here. Precedence has been set by mingling the administration with the ruling political party here. The nation has witnessed how police had arrested our youth leaders by implicating them in false cases. But I want to make it clear before the people of Tripura that Mamata Banerjee is with them," Basu stated.
Basu was accompanied by Parliamentarians Dr Santanu Sen, Kakali Ghosh Dastidar, Arpita Ghosh, Abir Biswas, Abu Taher, Arjun awardee Prasun Banerjee among others along with Tripura TMC leaders Subal Bhowmik and Ashish Lal Singh.
All of them expressed their confidence in winning the next Assembly polls in Tripura scheduled in 2023. They maintained that a large number of leaders from Congress and BJP are in touch with the party and the final call would be taken by the party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
When asked about TMC's choice of leadership in Tripura, Basu said his party will focus on organisational strength instead of deciding a face for now.
TMC will observe Independence Day in Tripura on Sunday and Khela Hobe Diwas on Monday in all blocks of Tripura.