BJP mandal chief resigns in Tripura

Agartala: The BJP mandal president of Banamalipur Assembly constituency in West Tripura district, Dipak Kar, has resigned amid allegations of sabotage leading to defeat of state party president Rajib Bhattacharjee in the recently held assembly elections, a senior party leader said on Sunday.Banamalipur Assembly constituency, considered a stronghold of the saffron party, was held by former chief minister Bipplab Kumar Deb. Deb had defeated Congress nominee Gopal Chandra Roy by a margin of 12,000 votes in the 2018 assembly election.This time, the BJP candidate Rajib Bhattacharjee lost the election to Congress candidate Gopal Chandra Roy by a margin of 1,369 votes.Pressure was mounting on the mandal president (Dipak Kar) to resign ever since the defeat of Bhattacharjee amid allegations of sabotage. Finally, the mandal president who wanted to contest from Banamalipur resigned on Saturday.Kar was once close to the CPM. He joined BJP in 2018 and became mandal president.Sources said similar allegations were levelled against another top leader who was allegedly instrumental in deputy CM Dev Varma’s defeat in Charilam. According to reports, a group of leaders joined hands with TIPRA Motha to secure their future in the party and conspired against Dev Varma