North Tripura (Tripura) : Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Sunday branded the opposition's demand for fresh elections in West Tripura parliamentary constituency and Ramanagar assembly constituency as a "scripted drama".
He stated that the officials of the election conducting body had already found their allegations to be "unfounded" and "baseless.""The script was prepared well before the elections. In most of the polling booths, they couldn't give polling agents. It shows they don't have enough workers in their party to discharge election-related responsibilities. In order to hide their weakness, they have raised some sweeping allegations against the election machinery.
However, after thorough scrutiny of the complaints, all their allegations are found to be baseless and unfounded," Saha said in an election rally held at the Jubarajnagar area under the North Tripura district.
Flanked by BJP Tripura Pradesh President Rajib Bhattacharjee, Minister Tinku Roy, local MLAs and Party leaders, the Chief Minister was canvassing for the BJP candidate for East Tripura, Kriti Singh Debbarman.
Describing the first phase of polls as a new chapter of incident-free elections in Tripura's electoral history, Saha said, "BJP is not a party that lets loose hooligans and violence to wrest power. With 81 per cent voting in West Tripura, we are among the top states where such a high turnout could be achieved."
Lashing out at the Left and its ally Congress, Saha said, "Both parties are fighting to protect their existence. In Tripura ADC elections, they drew a blank. In urban body polls, they failed to secure even one seat. I am sure in the Lok Sabha elections, a similar fate will befall for the opposition. In assembly elections, though, they somehow managed to sail through with some seats."
Reacting sharply to the opposition's 'outsider' jibe at BJP candidate from East Tripura, Kriti Singh Debbarman, Saha said, "The members of INDI alliance are experts in creating confusion among the public. Kriti Singh Debbarman is the daughter of the state's royal family. If a daughter gets married to another state; does she become an outsider? Sometimes their crazy arguments surprise me completely."
The Chief Minister also accused the Left of making Tripura industrially barren. "A lot of industries were functional in Tripura but all of these units had to shut down because of the anti-industrial atmosphere created in the state. The Left and its frontal wings incited the labour force against the owners, which led to a disaster in the industrial sector. After the BJP came to power, a conducive atmosphere was created, and industrial investment in Tripura was incentivised," Saha added.