Congress haunted by its politics of breaking other parties: CPI-M

Referring to the political developments in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, a CPI-M leader on Monday said that the Congress was getting back what it did before 1967 - dislodging non-Congress governments through manipulation.

"The then Congress leadership, before 1967, tried to dislodge non-Congress governments in the country by manipulating the legislators of other parties. Later, they lost assembly elections in eight states," Communist Party of India-Marxist central committee member Bijan Dhar told reporters here.

He said: "Now the Congress is getting a similar treatment in Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and other states. The Congress has a habit of forming governments by breaking other parties."

Dhar, accompanied by another CPI-M central committee member Gautam Das, also vehemently denied the charge of Congress leaders that former Tripura health minister Bimal Sinha was assassinated by the militants as he wanted to be the chief minister.

Commenting on the Yusuf Commission report, opposition Congress' leaders Sudip Roy Barman and Ratan Lal Nath on Monday alleged that Chief Minister Manik Sarkar instigated the assassination of Sinha.

"Their allegation is wild and a complete lie. If they have any such evidence, why did they not submit the same before the judicial commission when it sought the views of all concerned during the probe?" Das asked.

Challenging the Congress, the CPI-M leaders said if the Congress leaders failed to prove their charge they must resign from the assembly.

The inquiry commission headed by Calcutta High Court Justice M.A. Yusuf (retd), submitted its report to the state government in January 2000. It was presented in the assembly on March 23 following the Tripura High Court order.

The commission was formed in 1998 to probe the assassination of Sinha and his brother on March 31, 1998, at Kamalpur in northern Tripura.

"Without participation in discussions in the house over the commission report, the Congress is doing politics outside the assembly to derive political mileage," said Dhar, the secretary of the state CPI-M.