People in Tripura will reject BJP's communal designs: CPI(M)

The CPI(M) today trashed BJP chief Amit Shah's claim that there was a "long misrule" in Tripura and his party would put an end to it saying the people of the state will reject the "communal" designs of the Centre's ruling party.
Countering the allegations that Chief Minister Manik Sarkar is involved in chit fund scandals, the CPI(M) said the BJP is living in "fool's paradise" if it feels the Marxist leader's image can be "tarnished".
Former CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat also accused the BJP of unleashing violence in the northeastern state to spread its wings there.
The BJP -- which formed governments in northeastern states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur in the recent past -- fancies wresting power from Sarkar when Tripura goes to polls next year.

"Shah has declared the BJP would oust the Left Front government in the assembly elections. BJP's and RSS' communal and reactionary designs will be firmly rebuffed by the people of Tripura," Karat said.
The Marxist leader made the remarks in an editorial of latest issue of party mouthpiece 'People's Democracy'.

Karat alleged that to fulfil its desire of "uprooting" the Left Front from power in the state, the BJP is "working overtime" to create conditions of confrontation.
He also cited recent incidents of clashes between cadres of the two parties.
"However, unlike in the other north-eastern states, the BJP is faced with a CPI(M) which has a strong and deep rooted base among the people," he cautioned.

Karat further accused RSS-BJP workers of propagating a Hindutva agenda and spreading disinformation about the state government.
He charged the combine with trying to disrupt the unity among tribals of the state for achieving its "narrow" political gains by seeking to rope in tribal "extremist" parties like the Indigenous People's Front of India and Indigenous Nationalist Party of India.
Referring to the BJP's reported challenge to Sarkar that he hands over chit fund cases to CBI to prove his "honesty", Karat said, "The BJP is living in a fool's paradise, if it believes it can tarnish the image of Sarkar."

Karat sought to deflate the BJP's reported allegation, saying Sarkar had written to the Centre immediately after the exposure of the chit fund scams namely - Saradha, Rose Valley and others - demanding a probe by the central agency into the cases.
The CBI, he added, is investigating five out of the total 37 cases in this connection.
The rest 32 cases are being investigated by a Special Task Force under the supervision of the Tripura High Court, Karat added.