CPI-M legislator sacked, quits Tripura assembly

CPI-M legislator Manoranjan Acharjee has resigned from the Tripura assembly after the party expelled him on charges of wrongdoing, the speaker said on Friday. Acharjee has denied the charges.

Speaker Ramendra Chandra Debnath said he had accepted the resignation of Acharjee, 54. "I have accepted the resignation and a notification in this regard will be issued soon," Debnath told IANS.

Acharjee was elected to the assembly in 2008 and again in 2013 from Birganj constituency.

"I was let down by a section of partymen who do not tolerate me," Acharjee told IANS.

"I did not indulge in any misconduct of any minor girl," Acharjee told IANS by telephone from Amarpur. He said no FIR had been registered against him.

Sources in the Communist Party of India-Marxist said the action followed a complaint by a woman in Amarpur in southern Tripura.

"The party carried out an internal inquiry," a source said. The legislator was served a show cause notice.

"Acharjee's reply was not satisfactory. Then he was expelled from the party and asked to resign from the membership of the state assembly," said CPI-M leader Bijan Dhar.

The woman also complained to Chief Minister Manik Sarkar.

The CPI-M had suspended another senior leader, from Kumarghat in northern Tripura, a few years ago on charges of sexual assault.

A police officer said: "No FIR (first information report) has been lodged against Acharjee. Only the grandfather of the victim requested police to provide police protection to their family and their business."