The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Tripura unit in-charge on Saturday urged newly-inducted Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb to “get the septic tanks of all ministers’ quarters cleaned” before the party’s MLAs occupy them. Sunil Deodhar’s reasoning: a woman’s skeleton was found in the septic tank of former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar’s quarters in 2005, but “the case was deliberately suppressed”.
Deodhar later called the Communist Party of India (Marxist) a party of murderers and said it may have hidden skeletons in the septic tanks of government quarters, ANI reported. “If our ministers occupy the quarters without cleaning them and checking things, someone might blame us,” he said.
In response, CPI(M) Spokesperson Gautam Das said the party would have no problem if the new government decided to check the tanks. Director General of Tripura Police Akhil Kumar Shukla said the police had not “covered up any issue”, referring to the skeleton found in Sarkar’s septic tank in January 2005, PTI reported.
Biplab Kumar Deb was sworn in as the chief minister of Tripura on Friday, along with his deputy Jishnu Debbarma. The BJP won 35 of 59 seats in the February 27 elections and its ally, the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura, won eight. The CPI(M) had managed to win only 16 seats.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!