Agartala: Newly appointed President of Tripura Pradesh Trinamool Congress Pijush Biswas on Sunday predicted that any political understanding between Congress and CPI(M) would turn out to be a subject of mass rejection like what happened in West Bengal.
According to him, the proposals being made by both CPI(M) and Congress seem to be a result of “personal interest” rather than for the interest of the people.
Biswas did not name anyone but indicated that it was the present Congress leadership which is eager to forge an alliance with the CPI(M). He said, “Any electoral alliance between the two would draw similar mass rejection that it faced in West Bengal.”
In his maiden press briefing after being appointed as the chief of the party’s state unit, Biswas said, “Thousands of Congress workers were killed at the hands of miscreants backed by the ruling party when CPI(M) was in power. Houses were reduced to ashes for supporting the Congress party. Eligible candidates did not get jobs, poor people were deprived of ration cards.”
“All these years when CPI(M) was in power, Congress supporters only suffered in the hands of the CPI(M) and now if that Congress worker is asked to support the CPI(M), will he or she warm up to the call? How will the present Congress leadership solace those who have lost their loved ones?” he questioned.
Accusing the CPI(M) of unleashing a reign of terror, Biswas said, Congress workers were always at the receiving end of the violence let loose by the CPI(M) cadres. “Just in South Tripura, 73 Congress workers were murdered. Do you think these families will ever cast their vote in favour of CPI(M),” he said.
Crediting Congress for the party’s constant decline and fall, Biswas said, “Right from 1977, it was the leaders of Congress who paved the way for the other parties to win electoral battles.”
He said,
He said, “When Indira Gandhi lost in 1977, the whole Congress leadership of the state jumped ship and formed a Janata Dal government. After a lot of struggle, Congress returned to power in 1988 but again, due to the internal squabbling between the Congress, CPIM came back to power in 1993. And, after 1993 for the next 25 years, CPI(M) was in power because voters lost their trust in the Congress even as it continued to get above 40 per cent votes.”
The TMC leader also lashed out at the BJP for its sheer underperformance in the last four and half years. “The BJP took advantage of the weakness of Congress and swept the majority in the 2018 assembly,” he said.
“The whole 40 per cent vote of the Congress went to the BJP in 2018. But, they failed to live up to the expectations of the public. Today, the BJP does not even have a 10 per cent committed vote. They will again pulverize into the below two per cent vote-share in the next assembly elections,” claimed Biswas.
The former Tripura Pradesh Congress also explained that he decided to join the Trinamool Congress to offer Tripura a popular government.
“I am not here for power. I started my political career with NSUI and served as the Congress President for 18 months. I had to quit the Congress party because AICC did not offer me any autonomy to make reforms. I did not want to continue as a rubber stamp president which is why I left,” he said.
“My decision to join Trinamool is also clear. The party is very serious about Tripura as I am told by party supremo Mamata Banerjee; the response of people is also good. People are now in a dilemma. They want a change but they don’t know whom to vote for. We shall work hard to make sure that Trinamool emerges as the strongest alternative”, he added and hoped that the party would perform well in the next assembly elections.
Other senior leaders of the TMC including Rajya Sabha MP Susmita Dev and in charge for Tripura Rajib Banerjee were also present at the press briefing.
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