People's Democracy(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) |
Vol.
XXVI No. 51 December 29,2002 |
Congress Infighting Has Echoes In Delhi
WHILE
pursuing
its
design
to
capture
power
by
hook
or
by
crook,
the
Congress
party
in
Tripura
is
now
plagued
with
raucous
factional
feuds.
Rival
Congress
heavyweights
have
been
camping
in
Delhi
along
with
10
to
15
followers
each,
to
lobby
for
party
tickets
to
contest
in
the
state
assembly
elections
slated
for
February.
Needless
to
say,
most
of
the
followers
of
these
ticket
aspirants
are
mercenary
musclemen
who
have
been
brought
to
flex
their
muscles
so
as
to
further
the
prospects
of
their
respective
bosses.
As
a
result,
the
state
government’s
Tripura
House
in
New
Delhi,
the
camping
ground
of
Congress
heavyweights
from
the
state,
has
also
become
the
battleground
of
these
rival
factions.
All
the
rooms
of
the
Tripura
House
are
at
present
occupied
by
Congress
legislators
while
their
followers
and
other
ticket
aspirants
are
putting
up
at
Kalibari
in
Delhi
or
in
various
hotels.
At
present,
the
Tripura
House
compound
is
constantly
crammed
with
these
fortune
hunters.
There
was
therefore
nothing
surprising
that,
on
December
15
night,
a
drunken
brawl
erupted
between
the
Birajit
Sinha
and
Surajit
Datta
factions
in
the
dining
hall
of
Tripura
House.
The
followers
of
these
two
leaders
came
to
blows
and
also
ransacked
the
glass
windowpanes
and
other
articles
inside
the
dining
hall.
When
Tripura
House
authorities
called
the
police
in,
the
miscreants
of
both
sides
fled
from
the
scene
by
scaling
the
boundary
wall.
A
police
picket
has
since
been
posted
at
the
venue
to
prevent
the
recurrence
of
such
incidents.
(INN)