CPI-M threatens stir if new Tripura governor crosses limit

Tripura's ruling CPI-M on Thursday threatened to launch a mass movement if newly appointed Governor Tathagata Roy crosses his constitutional limit.

"We welcome (Tathagata) Roy as governor of Tripura. Like the previous Congress government, the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre is appointing their leaders as governors of various states," Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Tripura state secretary Bijan Dhar told reporters.

"If the new governor crosses his constitutional limit, the CPI-M would launch a mass movement against him," Dhar said.

Dhar, also a CPI-M central committee member, said: "We believe that Roy as the governor of Tripura would cooperate with the Left Front government and discharge his constitutional duties."

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said he was consulted by the central government about the appointment of the new governor.

Opposition parties, including the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Trinamool Congress, welcomed the new governor.

"We expect that the new governor will uphold the human and basic rights of the people in Tripura," BJP's Tripura unit president Sudhindra Dasgupta said.

Congress leader Sudip Roy Barman and state Congress working president Ashish Saha, welcoming Roy in Tripura, hoped that the new governor would ensure justice for the common people.

President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday appointed 70-year-old Roy, a former president of the BJP's West Bengal unit, as the 16th governor of Tripura. Roy will replace Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya, who is also the governor of Nagaland and Assam.

Roy, a civil engineer, on Wednesday tweeted that as he takes up his new responsibility as a governor, there will be "no more political tweets".