BJP using dirty tricks to destabilise Tripura govt: CPI(M)

The CPI(M) today alleged that the BJP was misusing power and resorting to "dirty tricks" to destabilise the Tripura government, led by the Left party.
The charge comes a day after the saffron party urged the Election Commission (EC) to appoint the micro-observers in poll-bound Tripura from outside the state and deploy a maximum number of paramilitary forces, alleging that an atmosphere of fear was prevailing in the north-eastern state.
"The BJP-RSS is misusing power to destabilise the Tripura government through dirty tricks," CPI(M) politburo member Brinda Karat told PTI.
Tripura, she said, was a symbol of peace and harmony in a region which had a history of ethnic conflicts.

The CPI(M) government in Tripura had done better than the BJP-ruled states as far as the social and development indicators were concerned, Karat added.
"False charges, manufacturing lies and the abusive statements of BJP leaders will cost them heavily in the coming election (in Tripura), in which the Left Front will emerge even stronger," she claimed.

The BJP had yesterday said only those government officials should be deployed on poll duty in Tripura, who gave a declaration that they were not members of any political party or any trade union, affiliated to a political outfit.
"The micro-observers should be appointed from outside the state, because the CPI(M) has started giving membership to the state government employees. Polls cannot be held with the members of the Left party inside the booth," BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma had said in New Delhi.

"We also request the EC to deploy a maximum number of paramilitary forces in the state to ensure a free-and-fair election," he had said.
Sarma, a minister in the BJP government in Assam, is also the convener of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), a coalition of the BJP and regional parties from the north-east.
The CPI(M) has been ruling Tripura since 1993 and elections in the north-eastern state have traditionally been two-cornered contests between the Congress and the Left party.
The BJP's bid to emerge as a force to reckon with in the state got a boost last year with seven MLAs -- six from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and one from the Congress -- joining the saffron camp.

Sarma had also claimed that the BJP would sweep the Tripura polls, following which the number of CPI(M) members would be reduced to less than 10 in the 60-member Assembly.
The current term of the Tripura Assembly is scheduled to come to an end on March 6.