Former Tripura CM Manik Sarkar may abstain from contesting 2023 assembly polls

Manik Sarkar, the four-time chief minister of Tripura and a member of the CPI(M) politburo, is planning not to run for the 2023 assembly elections.

A senior CPI(M) leader speaking on the development told a local media that Sarkar is said to have informed the CPI(M) politburo of his decision to not serve as the party's face for the upcoming assembly elections.

Sarkar won the election to the state assembly by defeating Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik in the well-known Dhanpur area of Tripura.

The CPI(M) has been putting in great effort to recover its previous stronghold in Tripura, therefore if done, the action would be important. The party has also begun talks with anti-BJP groups about forming a broad coalition, breaking with tradition.

According to party insiders, the party has modified its election plan. "There will be a lot of new people handed tickets. Candidates will be chosen primarily based on their qualifications, political savviness, and organisational activity. On CPI(M) tickets, new candidates are expected to run for office in about 60% of the seats. Perhaps for the first time, there has been such a significant change in the party's slate of candidates, a party senior told the media.
Meanwhile the opposition Congress and Left Front in Tripura made a joint appeal to the voters of the state to unite against the misrule of BJP and come forward to make an end to this ‘black regime’.

While in the joint statement, the chief of all the Left Front committees and Congress undersigned the statement, Tripura CPIM state secretary Jitendra Chowdhury claimed that TIPRA Motha Chief Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma also endorsed the views expressed in the appeal.  

Apart from CPI(M) state Secretary Jitendra Chowdhury and Tripura Pradesh Congress President Birajit Sinha, CPI state secretary Judhisthir Das, RSP secretary Deepak Deb, Forward Bloc Chairman Paresh Sarkar and secretary CPIML Partha Karmakar also undersigned the joint appeal.

“An unimaginable, abnormally anarchical rule was set in, in the state of Tripura since the formation of Alliance government led by BJP. Civil rights were denied, and the individual entity of the media has been destroyed. 

The Independent functioning of the opposition parties has been immobilized by throttling their voice. In fact, a one-party tyrannical rule has been imposed in the state. The right of the electors to freely cast vote has been snatched away. The election has been reduced to a farcical event”, the statement reads.

Accusing a section of the police and administration, the leaders in the statement claimed that intentional inactiveness of the administration, particularly of a section of the police administration has helped the ruling party to carry on their unconstitutional and undemocratic actions and indulged the miscreants abetted by the ruling party.

Also read : Tripura: CPIM-led left front, Congress jointly appeal voters to unite against BJP’s misrule in state