Former Tripura Speaker, expelled CPI-M tribal leader join BJP

Agartala, June 11 (IANS): Former Tripura Speaker Jitendra Sarkar, who had last year rejoined ruling CPI-M, on Sunday joined BJP along with an expelled Left tribal leader.

Sarkar, who served as Speaker twic, and Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) member and expelled Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) tribal leader Joy Kishore Jamatia joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in presence of its national General Secretary (organisation) Ram Lal.

State BJP President Biplab Kumar Deb, who was also present in the ceremony, said that over 300 cadres and supporters from CPI-M, Congress and other parties also joined his party on Sunday.

Lawyers Chandra Sekhar Sinha and Siraj Ali, former bureaucrat Kanai Bal and physician Ramesh Das, who are supporters of various other parties, also joined the BJP.

Sarkar who was Speaker from 1995 to 2003 had joined the Congress in March 2010 but in April last year, resigned from as a Congress MLA and rejoined the CPI-M.

Jamatia, who was recently expelled by the CPI-M for moral turpitude, said: “Without any truth, CPI-M expelled me and when the party (CPI-M) heard I am joining in BJP, they asked me not to join it as they would protect my TTAADC membership.”

A case has been registered under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, he said, adding the investigation has been launched to nab the persons involved.

The seizure came a week after 535 kg of cannabis was seized at Mawryngkneng village in East Khasi Hill district in which one person was arrested.