Irate Congress supporters heckled party’s central observer Luizinho Faleiro who arrived in Agartala on Saturday accompanied by Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to review the political situation in Tripura following the party’s debacle in the recent assembly elections.
PCC leaders and security personnel had a tough time controlling the situation soon after the leaders addressed newsmen at Congress Bhavan on alleged atrocities on party workers across the State.
The CPI (M)-led Left Front retained power in the State for the fifth time in a row, while the Congress could bag only 10 seats in the 60-member assembly.
Mr. Gogoi, Mr. Faleiro and central leader Shakeel Ahmed came to Agartala on instruction from the party high command to oversee the post-poll scenario and interact with local leaders. Before arriving at Congress Bhavan for scheduled meetings, they called on Governor D. Y. Patil to lodge a complaint on alleged violence against party supporters perpetrated by CPI (M).
Angry supporters who gathered in large numbers at the Congress Bhavan premises targeted Mr. Faleiro when the leaders were on their way out. They raised slogans against him and heckled him before party leaders and NSG commandos covering Mr. Gogoi swung into action to save him.
“Hundreds of party men fell prey to attacks by CPI (M) and scores were rendered homeless. Mr. Faleiro and State president Sudip Roy Burman have no time to visit them,” Swaraj Sarkar, former leader of the party’s students wing, National Students Union of India, charged.
Dissident Congress leaders and workers alleged that Mr. Faleiros hardly visited the State before the elections and "even damaged the prospects of the party in some constituencies by putting inefficient candidates by influencing the high command."
“We will talk to the Union Home Minister and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on the prevailing situation in Tripura,” Mr. Ahmed said.
Mr. Gogoi, who was chairman of the steering committee to select party candidates in Tripura, advised local leaders to “move the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the High Court against atrocities.”
The central leaders, along with PCC president Sudip Roy Burman, briefly addressed the media after a meeting with office-bearers and newly elected MLAs. They appealed to the people to put an end to the current political violence and maintain peace.
Clashes
Meanwhile, one person was killed and more than 100 people were injured in a spate of violence in Tripura in the past three days. The CPI (M), which scored a landslide victory in the elections, also lashed out at the Congress for “injuring many of its party cadres to avenge defeat.”
Incidents of violence have been reported from all eight districts in the State. Congress supporter Litan Biswas died of wounds he received in an attack at Lefunga area in West Tripura.
