Former Tripura PCC president and five-time MLA Birajit Sinha has been skipping the campaign for party candidate Asish Kumar Saha in West Tripura Lok Sabha constituency.
Mr. Sinha is maintaining a visible distance from Mr. Saha, who is the incumbent PCC president as well as the party’s candidate. Mr. Sinha is also keeping away from former Health Minister Sudip Roy Barman since his removal as PCC president last year. His aides blamed the Saha-Barman duo for his drop and several of his loyal leaders from key party positions.
Mr. Sinha has been maintaining silence and not displaying his ire publicly, but he is allegedly allowing his close aides to depart Congress and join the Bharatiya Janata Party. In the past one month, several leaders in Congress joined the saffron party.
There are whispers that Mr. Sinha might switch sides after the Lok Sabha election, something he has neither confirmed nor denied. But his absence and silence show his reluctance to continue with the Congress.
Mr. Sinha is spending his time at his multi-storey house at Krishnanagar here or his constituency in Kailashahar, Unakoti district, which comes under the east Tripura Lok Sabha constituency. He, however, participated in a few programmes of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance bloc’s Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate Rajendra Reang in the East Tripura Lok Sabha seat.
Although Mr. Saha refused to answer questions surrounding Mr. Sinha, he did say that the Congress is not an individual’s party, and stressed on the collective fight being put up against the BJP.
“All ranks and workers of the Congress have devoted energy to defeating BJP. The general mood of the people is completely against BJP and the election commission must ensure a fair election”, Mr. Saha stated.
Priyanka Gandhi to campaign in Tripura
Mr. Barman announced on Friday that Congress party’s star campaigner Priyanka Gandhi will campaign for Mr. Saha through a road show in Agartala on April 16.
She would also address at a meeting during the road show, Mr. Barman informed.
