TMC sets eyes on Tripura, announces visits by its leaders

Party accuses State govt. of detaining Prashant Kishore’s survey team at a hotel

July 29, 2021 02:57 am | Updated 02:57 am IST - Agartala

Trinamool Congress seems to have shifted its focus to Tripura with the party announcing the itinerary of senior leaders, including national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.

The announcement came after the arrival of a delegation of two Cabinet Ministers of the West Bengal government and a former Member of Parliament here on Wednesday, amid allegations that 23 employees of political strategist Prashant Kishor’s firm Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) were detained at a hotel. The team was in the State to assess the TMC’s political prospects.

Mr. Banerjee will visit the State on Friday, while floor leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien and MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar are scheduled to reach on Thursday morning.

Party sources said West Bengal Ministers Moloy Ghatak and Bratya Basu, and former MP Ritabrata Banerjee will continue to stay in the State till the departure of Mr. Banerjee. A large number of party supporters assembled at the the Agartala airport to greet the leaders.

Later, Bratya Basu and his colleagues addressed a press conference, where they lashed out at the governments of BJP-ruled States for “oppressing Opposition parties and muzzling voices of dissent”. They criticised the alleged confinement of its survey team inside a hotel here and slapping Section 188 of the IPC against them.

Tripura police, however, denied the confinement charge and said they resorted to action in accordance with the regulations to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The I-PAC team underwent RT-PCR test. Though the results came back negative, the team was not allowed to move out by the security officers, TMC alleged. It said the employees had been issued notice under Section 188 of the IPC and told to report to east Agartala police station on August 1.

Meanwhile, the ruling BJP has refuted charges that it had a role in confinement of I-PAC employees. Party spokespersons Subrata Chakraborty and Nabendu Bhattacharjee addressed a press conference at the party office on Wednesday, where they accused TMC of creating an issue to extract political mileage.

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