There is absolutely no space for democratic and political activity for the Opposition in Tripura, Trinamool Congress leader Sushmita Dev said at a press conference here on Tuesday. A delegation of the TMC will meet President Ram Nath Kovind soon on the violence against the party workers in the State.
Ms. Dev, who was sworn in as Rajya Sabha MP on Tuesday, said the Tripura police have been dragging their feet on investigating or making any arrests in last Friday’s incident when she and other TMC workers were attacked.
“There is absolutely no space for any democratic and political activity of the Opposition in Tripura. The police may not be able to prevent a violent attack, but even after we provided them the evidence, including videos and photographers, there have been no arrests in any of the incidents of violence against us,” Ms. Dev said. She was sporting a cast on a finger in her right hand following an injury when her car was attacked in Agartala on Friday.
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Answering questions on the TMC’s expansion plans and efforts to elbow out the Congress from the lead Opposition role, another Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray said its president Mamata Banerjee met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on August 28 in Delhi.
“We waited for six months for the Congress and the others to decide the Opposition roadmap to take on the BJP but we didn’t hear from them, so we decided to go ahead with our expansion plans. The Congress it seems is more busy with their own internal matters. We cannot indefinitely wait for them,” Mr. Ray said.