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)