CPI(M) local committee secretary defects to BJP

From a correspondent

Agartala, Oct 8: The ruling CPI (M) in Tripura suffered a serious setback when some of the leaders of Teliamura divisiol committee virtually revolted against the party’s decision to field young candidates in the forthcoming Assembly election.

However, timely intervention by the State committee leaders maged to pacify the divisiol committee secretary Sudhir Sarkar to withdraw his resigtion. But the secretary of a local committee Indrajit Modak deserted the party and joined the BJP along with his followers.

Indrajit Modak, secretary of the CPI (M) Kalyanpur local committee in Khowai district, announced his decision to join the saffron party in a public rally organized by the BJP in presence of Subal Bhowmik, the State vice-president of the BJP at Kalyanpur Bazar on Saturday. 

Responding to Modak’s defection move, the CPI (M) State committee expelled Modak and published a notification in its daily Desher Katha stating that Indrajit Modak has been expelled from the party for indulging in anti-party activities.

It is learnt that the discontent came to the fore after the State committee initiated a move to select party candidates for the forthcoming Assembly election expected to be held in February next.

According to sources, the State committee’s decision to field younger candidate has caused resentment among the senior leaders of the party. This resulted in the Teliamura divisiol committee secretary Sudhir Sarkar to led the revolt and submit his resigtion.

Senior CPI (M) leaders including a central committee member Aghor Debbarma and district committee secretary and MLA Biswajit Roy rushed to Teliamura to pacify Modak. But he, however, remained firm in his decision.

The BJP vice-president Subal Bhowmik said it was only a tip of an ice berg and many others were going to follow the footsteps of Indrajit Modak. He said that many CPI (M) members, including two MLA’s, were in touch with him and may take the extreme step at any moment.