New Delhi: The Trinamool Congress MPs reportedly failed to get an appointment with the Home Minister Amit Shah on the issue of alleged violence against Trinamool leaders in Tripura.
The BJP Tripura and West Bengal units have been asked to hold press conferences and detailed briefings to clear doubts on recent clashes between Trinamool workers and others in the northeastern state.
For the 'remaining' 222 civic body seats, a total of 785 candidates belonging to various political parties now remain in the fray for the Urban Local Bodies elections to be held on November 25. The counting of votes will be held on November 28.
The TMC delegation later submitted a memorandum, sources said.
Union Minister of State and BJP MP fro Tripura, Pratima Bhowmik, has been specially tasked by central leaders to hold
briefing in Tripura while in West Bengal, the task has been assigned to a team led by former BJP president Dilip Ghosh.
In Agartala, the media briefings would be held in Hindi as well to give the press conference wide coverage across the country, sources said.
Trinamool Congress leader Sayoni Ghosh was arrested in Agartala on Sunday and was later given bail.
Since the clashes related to West Bengal-based party TMC, the West Bengal party unit has been asked to give adequate focus on the issue.
Sources said the BJP leaders in Tripura and West Bengal and spokespersons in Delhi have been advised to dispel the 'anti-BJP narrative' that the TMC was trying to build in the name of clashes in Tripura.
The northeastern state was once a red-bastion, and violence formed inherent political culture like West Bengal and Kerala.
In 2018, the BJP stormed to power, ousting the erstwhile Manik Sarkar regime.
In the recent past, Trinamool Congress has gone hyperactive in Tripura and has perhaps sought to marginalise its longtime political rival in West Bengal – the CPI (M).
The Congress had failed to open an account in Tripura in 2018, and also in 2021, both the CPI-M and the Congress could not win a single seat each in West Bengal.
The BJP has maintained its strong grip in Tripura civic polls even as political detractors have alleged violence in the
formerly-Left bastion.
The Lotus party won 'uncontested' 112 out of 334 seats across 20 local civic bodies
including the much prestigious Agartala Municipal Corporation.
The much hype created over the entry of West Bengal-based Trinamool Congress into the fray, notwithstanding high flying visits by Mamata Banerjee's influential nephew Abhishek Banerjee and other key leaders, has fallen flat.
