Tribal leader to head Congress in Tripura

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has appointed tribal leader Diba Chandra Hrangkhawl to head the party in Left-ruled Tripura, party sources said here Saturday.

"Diba Chandra Hrangkhawl would be the state party president and Ashish Saha would be the working president," a senior party leader told reporters in Agartala quoting a letter from party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi.

Both Hrangkhawl and Saha are the party legislators.

Hrangkhawl, who succeed Sudip Roy Burman, is the second tribal leader who will lead the Congress in Tripura after Manmohan Debbarma who was the Congress state unit chief in 1971-72.

The main opposition Congress had suffered a humiliating defeat, managing only 10 seats in the 60-member house in the Feb 14 polls. The Congress's poll partners Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura and National Conference of Tripura drew blanks, contesting 10 seats and one seat,

respectively.

The Left Front comprising Communist Party of India-Marxist (49) and Communist Party of India (one) registered a resounding victory in the polls, winning 50 seats.