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Cong gears up for elections in Tripura |
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Despite bickerings within the Tripura unit of the Congress, the party is gearing up to pose stiff competition to the CPI(M)-led Left Front in the Assembly elections slated for February next year.
AICC president Sonia Gandhi has inducted Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, Minister for Heavy Industries Sontosh Mohan Dev and External Affairs Min¬ister Pranab Mukherjee in the core team to chalk out the Congress strategy for the next Assembly polls.
Das Munshi has instructed dissident Congressmen to prepare for the next Assembly polls by setting the house in order.
Dev, who had led the Congress-Tripura Upajati Juba Samity (TUJS) coalition to an unexpected victory in the 1988 Assembly polls, has said the strategy has already been drawn up. As the first step towards restoring unity, the Tripura PCC will be reorganised and incumbent party president Samir Ranjan Barman will be removed from his post.
Dissident leader and former MLA Tapas De said more than 70 dissident party members and MLAs had met Sonia Gandhi and urged her to remove Barman to restore unity in the party before the polls.
“She has made no clear commitment but Das Munshi told us that a decision has already been taken to get rid of Barman and appoint Sudhir Ranjan Mazumder in his place,” said De.
He added that this would be followed by the formation of a nine-member core committee, an election committee and a campaign committee for finalising and implementing decisions pertaining to elections.
Speaking from Delhi, De said AICC general secretary and Union Labour Minister Oscar Fernandez would present the file on Tripura to Sonia Gandhi for her final approval.
Both Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will campaign extensively for the party in the polls.
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