The Bharatiya Janata Party’s observer for Tripura has ruled out any difference within the organisation a day after party workers shouted slogans against Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, the Hindustan Times reported.
“Our party is an organisation of karyakartas [workers],” Vinod Sonkar, the newly-elected observer for the state, said. “Our prime thought is to listen to them with respect. As the state has no prabhari [observer] for a long time, people could not say what they want to say. There is no grievance in any of them. All is well.” Sonkar, who was on a two-day visit to the state when the “Biplab hatao, BJP bachao [Remove Biplab, save BJP]” slogan was shouted, made the remarks before leaving.
The state observer said that he will speak with everyone, but it was not possible in one go. “Excitement was noticed to meet the prabhari,” he added. “This shows that the foundation of BJP is very strong in the state.”
The slogans hint at a growing dissidence against the chief minister among a large group of party workers in the state. Discontent has been brewing in the party after senior party leader Sudip Roy Barman was removed as the minister of health in June 2019, according to NDTV.
Rebel MLAs, including Barman and party leaders Ashish Kumar Saha, Ram Prasad Paul and Sushanta Chowdhury, met Sonkar to apprise him about the political and organisational situation in the state, The Sentinel reported.
The MLAs had earlier also met party’s National President Jagat Prakash Nadda in New Delhi and later Himanta Biswa Sharma, the convenor of North-East Democratic Alliance, to reprise the demand to change the leadership in the state.
Those shouting slogans could not be identified as they did not speak to the media. The dissenting MLAs also did not immediately comment on the sloganeering.
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