Tripura CPI-M leader suspended for grabbing bidi workers' land

Veteran Tripura CPI-M leader and former deputy speaker of the assembly Subal Rudra was suspended from the party for allegedly grabbing land, a party leader said here on Tuesday.

"After an internal inquiry of the party about allegation of grabbing land against Rudra, he was suspended from the party for a year," Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Tripura state secretary Bijan Dhar told IANS.

Dhar, also a CPI-M central committee member, said that party probe found that the accusation of land grabbing against Rudra was correct.

The 66-year-old leader refused to comment on his suspension.

"I have received the suspension letter. I have not yet made up my mind about my future course of action. I would not make any comment at this moment," Rudra, a CPI-M Tripura state committee member, told IANS over phone.

The Tripura government had allotted 3.2 hectares to the bidi workers in 1993 in Melaghar in Sipahijala district. Half of the land was allowed for housing 45 families while rest was kept for construction of a school and other civic amenities.

Rudra is alleged to have grabbed a portion of this land.

Rudra was elected to the assembly five times since 1978, when the CPI-M led Left Front government first came to power in Tripura.

--IANS

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